Keep the Change
by fantaicy
Summary: Freya Lupin was perfectly happy with her normal life. Course, the Weasley twins had to ruin that along with Lee, didn't they? It also didn't help that her DAD was now working as the resident DADA teacher. Looks like a energetic year that Freya will have trouble to keep up with! OC, AU and definitely NO SLASH.
1. Introducing

"Keep the change." I muttered to the taxi driver as I stood out of the car and watched him drive away. Getting a taxi back from Hogwarts was _extremely_ inconvenient and not to mention awkward.

My name's Freya Lupin (Faye to my friends). A Gryffindor who has just finished their 2nd year at Hogwarts – it's not as amazing as you think. For starters the work load is horrific and I do feel like a loner sometimes, however having a few friends makes it slightly easier. In fact I did find someone like me, a 1st year Ravenclaw called Luna Lovegood who is pretty strange. I admire her for that. I could also safely say I got along well with three of my fellow Gryffindors – Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom. I always had a soft spot for Seamus but if anyone knew I'm pretty sure I would be facing an even worse social suicide than I was already on the border of. With four close friends, I guess you could argue that I wasn't much of a loner so just ignore what I just said.

I had to get a taxi from the station back home since my dad is a werewolf (trust me, it's not as scary as you may first think) and since it's a full moon tonight he didn't want me to see him so weak – he absolutely hates being one but I admire his sanity to keep people safe so I didn't mind too much. Unfortunately it meant I was alone at least once every full moon but I took advantage of the time alone to sneak around my dad's room and look through his old albums from school. He was part of a group of friends who called themselves the marauders, you see.

I'll try and explain briefly who the marauders are: Remus Lupin, my dad, was nicknamed, Moony, due to his werewolf condition while his three other friends had similar nicknames that matched their animagus forms. For example, James Potter was a Stag animagus so in turn was called Prongs due to his antlers. The other two members were Sirius Black (Padfoot - an extremely shaggy black dog) and Peter Pettigrew (wormtail –rat, oh yeah. Nothing beats a rat!) But my dad doesn't tend to talk about them. Something to do with the incident that happened when I was 1 and Voldemort attacked Harry's parents which led to Sirius supposedly killing peter Pettigrew. Remus doesn't quite believe the story but there is nothing to say otherwise so he tends to get grumpy if I mention it.

He has a lot of photo albums from his marauder days which he keeps holed up in the attic thinking I haven't seen them. A lot are of Sirius and James hogging the camera with a few of Peter Pettigrew hiding in the corner away from the camera. From what I could see, I sometimes wondered why peter was ever a Gryffindor as he sounds pretty shifty from what my dad's told me. He turned into a RAT for crying out loud! Rats aren't "brave" are they? I sighed out loud as I flipped through the book to my favourite picture.

It included my dad holding me up in a rather worship-like fashion and James is doing the same with Harry while Lily is just face palming in the background with Sirius struggling not to laugh. It was before James and Lily went into hiding so the picture doesn't hide a hidden sombreness or whatever you call it. I always wondered who initially took the picture – probably Peter. Either way, my dad had a pretty awesome school life with great friends.

I always feel bad when he asks about my life at school because he thinks I'm friends with the Harry Potter but in reality he never even talks to me. I have a feeling it will come around and bite me in the butt if I'm not careful but I'm too scared to tell him I'm a practically a loner compared to his days at Hogwarts – Psh. I'm SUCH a Gryffindor, right?

I turned to the last page in the book to look at a picture of a rather beautiful woman. She had curly blonde hair down to her shoulders and my dad had an arm around her lovingly. Can you guess who she is yet? Neither have I... It said Marlene McKinnon at the very bottom of the picture and judging by how my dad and the woman were acting in the picture, I would assume they were in love. So the only conclusion I have come up with is that she could possibly be my mother. I'm not sure though and well, I haven't exactly approached my dad about who my mother is. Whenever I try to find out who this woman was, I came up blank – it's a horrible feeling.

I closed the album and put it carefully back into its original position in case Remus did come up here one day (which I'm willing to bet he has) and went back down to my room. Sorry to say, but my room is pretty bland since I live out of my case. Not only because I go to Hogwarts but because it's unbelievably hard to be a settled down werewolf. Remus probably gets close to being discovered one every 6 months which means we – well now him, lives practically on the road.

"Keep the change." I muttered to the cab driver for the second time this summer as I stepped out of the taxi, glad to be away from an awkward atmosphere and walked into Kings Cross Station. My dad was on werewolf time AGAIN (I'm so lucky, right?) which meant I had to travel to the station alone – I was ok with it, I suppose. I quickly located platform 9¾ and stepped through the barrier when it was safe to go through without suspicion. I happened to be quite early so there weren't many people on the platform so it was easy enough to find a compartment to myself. After my trunk had been placed on the rack I went back out on the station to wait for Luna – she had become my train buddy last year on the way home and I promised her that I would sit with her on the way to Hogwarts and back... and so forth.

10 minutes later on a busy platform, I spot two blonde people coming through the barrier and immediately recognised Luna. I waved her over.

"Why is the train slowing down?" Luna asked lowering her upside down copy of the quibbler. It's better not to ask...

"No idea. We're nowhere near Hogsmeade..." I replied looking out the window in confusion. "Oh great, now it's getting colder."

"How strange" Luna stated. If she said something was strange, it definitely was. I nodded in agreement. It was suddenly pitched black which caused me to make a small sound of surprise.

"What on EARTH is going on!" I cried out to no-one in particular.

"The Dabberblimps must've found the fuses," Luna said airily and I resisted the urge to laugh at the insanity of the situation.

"Maybe, or what about the nargles?" I asked, wanting to hear her explain the Nargles to me again since they were my favourite creature Luna chose to believe in. Plus it passed the time and made me feel ever so slightly safer in a cold and dark carriage on a train.

"But there is no mistletoe around! They only infest mistletoe; you should know that by now, Freya." Luna lectured me sternly which caused me to laugh.

"Sorry, Luna, There are a lot of creatures you mention, it's hard to keep up!"

"At least you believe in them too. Not many people seem to." Luna replied in what should've been a serious tone but ended up sounded slightly happy.

"I like the sound of them. I really want to meet a crumple horned snorkack, you know..."

"Me too, but they live in Sweden which is quite far away." Luna replied as if reading a textbook.

"Hmm... Maybe you can discover them one day and prove to the world that they exist- Hey the lights are turning back on!" I said seeing the corridor outside grow gradually brighter until our own compartment lit up.

I noticed Luna was reading the quibbler again without flinching when the lights turned back on which caused me to shake my head smiling.

Another hour later, the train arrived at Hogsmeade and everyone got into the carriages that move by themselves – although Luna says that Threstrals pull them along. No one bothered to join us but I did spot Seamus and Dean further up front.

Our carriage was one of the last to arrive at the castle and as soon as we entered the great hall we parted, going to our respected house tables. I found a seat near Neville just as the sorting began. As "Newton, Jennifer" was called out, my eyes travelled away from the hat to the staff table. I wonder who the new DADA teach- oh crap. There. Sitting next to Professor Flitwick, was my father. Remus Lupin. I glared at him with all my might and he locked eyes with me and grinned.

"Oh Merlin..." I muttered holding my head in my hands.

"What's wrong?" Neville asked confused.

"Then new dada teacher. That's what's wrong." I didn't mean to sound rude but I had bigger things to think about right now. My lies would soon fall through. Starting with the amount of friends I supposedly have and how I hang out with Harry Potter and his friends daily.

"Oh. Did you hear what happened on the train? Harry got attacked by a dementors and that teacher managed to stop it! Didn't stop Harry fainting though..."

I suppressed a laugh. "He _fainted_? And that teacher _stopped_ it! Oh dear lord..."The fact that there were dementors on the train was certainly NOT a good thing. I stared up at the ceiling and heard the sorting finish and looked back down again only to hear whispers start. I looked around to notice Harry and Hermione silently walking through the tables to sit next to Ron with McGonagall striding ahead of them to take a seat next to Snape.

"How come they're late?" I whispered to Neville but I never got an answer because Dumbledore began the welcoming speech. He certainly had a lot to say on the dementors...

Then the moment I dreaded. "On a happier note," Dumbledore began, "I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year" I raised my eyebrows at this.

"Firstly, Professor Lupin," I heard a few whispers start up in the hall and felt eyes stare at me. I simply stared at my empty plate wishing for him to hurry up. "Who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher." The applause that followed wasn't like the applause that had been given for Lockhart, our previous DADA teacher. I noted that Neville was one of the few that clapped hard along with Harry and the gang. I joined in like a daughter should. I was going to have a talk with him later.

"As to our second appointment..." The speech continued with Hagrid gaining the post of Care of Magical Creatures which gained a rather loud applause, especially from the Gryffindor table. Then the feast began which led to Neville asking me about my dad.

"Is Professor Lupin related to you?" Neville blurted out causing Dean and Seamus who were opposite us to suddenly pay attention.

"..." I shrugged, helping myself to some chicken.

"Come on, Faye! You can tell us!" Seamus said, "Cross me heart and hope to die"

I raised an eyebrow at this. "Do you seriously care that much?" I felt the urge to laugh but held it in.

Dean joined in now. "You are our friend, Faye'" I flinched as I always did at that nickname. I hated it but that didn't stop these guys calling me it.

"Fine. He's my dad, happy?" I took a big bite of chicken as I heard gasps from the three of them.

"You're so lucky! A guy who can fight off dementors!" Neville stared at me in awe.

"Just you wait. I bet he'll do a lesson on Bogart's. He loves those buggers." I shuddered remembering my last encounter with one – not pretty.

"What's a boggarts?" Dean asked looking apprehensive.

"A Bogart." I corrected beginning my dictionary worthy explanation" A creature that lives mostly in cupboards or enclosed spaces that when opened takes the form of your worst fear." I said simply as the main food disappeared being replaced with dessert. "Mmm. They have cookies!" I took a few and placed them on my plate and began munching them.

"Our...O-Our worst _fear?_" Neville asked stammering.

"Yup. Just say ridikulus and they turn into something funny. For example..."

I spent the rest of the feast giving a lecture on boggarts that was probably worthy of an E grade in school standards.

"And now if he asks about boggarts you know what to say." I finished as the food disappeared. I sighed. I only had one cookie in the end. Damn my happiness to lecture people on the few things I actually knew.

Dumbledore told everyone it was time to go to bed and I took the moment to storm up to the teacher table. I wasn't the only one – Harry, Ron and Hermione were running joyfully to congratulate Hagrid. Me on the other hand...

"HOW COULD YOU KEEP THIS FROM ME! YOU HAD ALL SUMMER TO TELL ME!" I shouted as I got within ten steps of my dad who just looked at me amused.

"That would ruin the surprise wouldn't it?" He said cooly. I scowled.

"Don't blame me if I fail DADA."

"I highly doubt that. That was a great speech on Boggarts by the way" Lupin took a swig of his drink and I sighed running a hand through my messy hair before running over to hug him over the table.

"You weren't meant to hear that..." I mumbled into his shoulder as I let go.

"It was Dumbledore who told me actually." He gestured over to Dumbledore who chose that particular moment to take up a conversation with Snape about Lemon Sherbets – is there nothing else that man talks about?

I shook my head, "You're terrible, you know that?"

"Well I _was_ part of an elite prank group during school remember" Lupin replied. I had to give it to him, he sure knew his comebacks.

"Fine, fine. Well, I should really get back to the common room before filch tries to deduct points on the first day for being out past curfew – Night, Dad!" I waved as I walked quickly out of the great hall to take a deep breath once I was out of sight and the door had closed. Two can play at this game...

* * *

**Well that fun, wasn't it? I'll be adding another chapter soon - once I get the hang of this site. Enough about me though...**

**I know this chapter probably wasn't that interesting but we all have to set the scene sometime! Review? Maybe? Please?**


	2. Why are people so suspicious?

The next morning, I woke to find that the sun still hadn't risen – a normal site for me since I was an extremely early riser – mainly because my dad used to arrive home extremely early in the morning so as to not wake me, it clearly didn't work. I quietly collected my things and entered the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Once that was out of the way, I returned to my bed to retrieve _the Monster Book of Monsters_ from my trunk. My dad had expertly wrapped one of his belts around it to stop it attacking me and told me to stroke the spine before attempting to open it. I did so and the book-creature...thing immediately relaxed in my hands. I unwrapped the belt and opened it to where I had read up to last time. I had gotten to the letter 'C' and there was a rather chunky text about Centaurs. I had always found centaurs interesting. In fact, last year when I was exploring the forbidden forest with Luna we came across two who started lecturing us on the stars and how a great danger was at the school. It wasn't a secret by then that students were getting petrified so we thought nothing of it. I began to read more about their ability to read the stars.

It wasn't till I reached the letter 'D' for Dementors that I actually looked up from the book to see the sun finally rising in the sky. I smiled and closed the book and put it back in the trunk (not before wrapping it up in the belt again, though). I looked at Hermione's watch that was on her bedside table which read half 6 and felt it was a perfectly acceptable time to go down and get some breakfast. I was wrong.

I entered the great hall to find the tables bare and the room empty. My tummy rumbled and I sighed. I didn't even notice Professor Dumbledore enter the room behind me and watch me with an amused look. When I did, I didn't half jump a mile.

"P-Professor Dumbledore!" I asked startled that anyone else would be down here at this time.

"I can never sleep on the first day of term, too much excitement around the castle for the next day I suppose." Dumbledore said not even paying attention to my startled attitude. "I hope you're ok with your father working at the school, I can assure you he won't interrupt your social life here." He looked down at me with a knowing smile. "Though you should probably admit to the fact you aren't exactly best friends with Harry."

I gasped unsure about to question how he knew but then realised that he probably wouldn't explain how anyway.

"Your father was slightly confused last night when you didn't sit with them but I assured him that you simply hadn't seen him." His eyes twinkled with amusement and I sighed, feeling a confession coming on as it always did around him. He was just the kind of person to bring out confessions from people. Curse his knowing ways!

"It's just that he always goes on about his parents and my dad getting along so well and how Harry and I did too that I didn't want to disappoint him by saying we hardly talk and the most I get is a smile or a wave. I'm sure you've heard the nicknames I have from the Slytherins and some other people."

"Even so, you're always with friends aren't you? Take last night for example; you were getting along just fine with Mr. Finnigan, Thomas and Longbottom."

I acknowledged his comment with a nod as he continued. "I suggest you tell your father about your friendship with Mr. Potter before it gets too complicated." I could've sworn he smirked in that moment as he turned towards the hall. "Let's get this place lively shall we?" He waved his wand and the room immediately brightened as the food filled up the tables. It was an amazing sight, I'll admit that.

At that moment, my father entered the room and smiled at professor Dumbledore in greeting and walked over to me as I took a seat at the Gryffindor table. "You always were an early riser." He ruffled my hair as he stood next to me.

I smiled and gestured for him to sit next to me – which he did.

"Dad, I need to tell you something..." I began and concern grew in Lupins' eyes.

"Go on." He stated staring at me with more concern than I would've liked.

"You know how I said that... Me and Harry were good friends?" I looked at my hands in my lap as realisation dawned on him.

"You're not friends at all? Oh god, did he insult you? He seemed like such a nice guy!" He said jumping to the worst conclusion he could think of.

"Well, not enemies, just that we don't talk as much as I said we did... We mostly just acknowledge each other with a wave and a smile."

"Ah." There was silence for a few moment interrupted only by the pouring of milk at the teachers table as Dumbledore prepared some cereal. I imagined him sitting with popcorn watching our conversation like it was a movie.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" My dad asked with an emotion I couldn't pinpoint in his eyes.

I shrugged. "You always went on about how you were best mates with his dad that I didn't want to ruin that illusion that you had of us as kids being friends." I looked back at my hands again.

"Look at me, Freya." He stated and I reluctantly did so. "I don't care that you aren't friends with Harry Potter! I shouldn't have just assumed you would've been when you first arrived at Hogwarts. I guess I'm still stuck in the past, eh?" He smiled, ruffling my hair into an even more messy state than it usually is in and I couldn't help but smile. "I solemnly accept whoever you are friends with, got it?" He asked and I nodded.

"Got it." I grinned.

"Good." He pulled me into a bear hug and let go again. "I should probably go to the teacher table before I embarrass you in front of the other students. I didn't even realise that other students (mainly Ravenclaws with textbooks in their hands) had started to arrive and kept sending curious looks in our direction no doubt already calculated that he was my father. I smirked. "See you in DADA, dad – well, that is if I even have a lesson with you today"

My dad shook his head smiling, "We'll see, shall we?" And with that he left the Gryffindor table he was once a part of and sat down at the teacher table with Dumbledore who immediately began a conversation with him about something. I didn't even bother trying to figure what it was about – I was too happy that I had finally told my dad the secret I had always felt bad about. I noticed some more students enter the great hall but none that I recognized. I wondered when Luna would get up. She normally came down at the same time as me and since our tables were next to each other she didn't hesitate to sit near me.

A few more Gryffindors entered the hall including Neville who came to sit next to me as he often did.

"Hello, Faye." He greeted me politely.

"Hi, Neville!" I replied not so politely (at least I don't think it was)

"Nice sleep?"

"Average for the first night, I guess – I will miss these beds forever once we leave in 7th year..."

"Same, I haven't slept so well since last time we were here!" Neville agreed.

"Well, if I lived with your grandma, I'd be scared she'd try and find a way to murder me..." I shuddered.

I noticed McGonagall walk down giving everyone who was awake their school timetables since the majority of students were awake.

"Miss Lupin, Mr. Longbottom." She greeted as she handed us our timetables to which we both replied with a 'thank you' before she went on her way again.

"Darn... No DADA today..." I sighed and looked over at Neville's parchment which was the same to mine since we made a pact to stick together – well mainly he made a pact with me and since I'm so nice I agreed. Plus the subjects weren't too shabby that we had chosen either.

"I wish my grandma had let me take ancient rune's..." Neville mumbled sadly.

"Didn't pin you as an ancient rune's guy, Neville!" I said in surprise.

"Yeah, well my grandma said it wouldn't be good for me in the future so I guess it was more her choice than mine..."

"Sucks to have someone choose... You should've chosen yourself!" I frowned at how unfair his family probably were to him, "I always thought you're family would hate divination." I added on with an afterthought.

"Easier said than done with my family" He replied glumly.

"I'm sure they're just looking out for you" I said consoling him.

"I wish they wouldn't be so forceful about it, though"

"Well you _are_ in the house of Gryffindor. There is a reason you are! Why not use that hidden courage I know you have in there?" I poked at his chest smiling.

He shrugged but smiled back. "You could always talk to my grandma for me..." He suggested.

"I've seen your grandma. She practically glared at me to the pits of hell the first summer back, remember?"

_The train finally arrived at Kings Cross and Neville looked much more nervous than he was at the station. We had finally finished our first year at Hogwarts and were sad to leave._

"_Cheer up, Mate. I'm sure she's not that bad! Hey! We'll come with you!" Seamus suggested with accompanying nods from me and Dean._

"_She looks friendly enough..." Dean observed looking out the window at an elderly woman sporting a rather eccentric hat with an eagle on it._

"_Eccentric. Not afraid to stand out!" I said smiling._

"_You don't have to follow me you know..." Neville said while taking off his bag off the rack with help from dean._

"_We're your _friends_, Neville. Honestly, I bet if a dragon wanted to be your friend you wouldn't let it in case you thought he would get hurt!" I remarked patting him on the shoulder while I got my own trunk off the rack along with Seamus and Dean._

_We followed him out of the carriage and while Neville hurried ahead to greet his grandma, dean made a comment about her appearance._

"_If you look long enough, she almost resembles a dragon in heels." This caused us all to burst into loud laughter earning us a few strange looks from passing parents._

"_Um, Grandma, these are my friends I told you about..." Neville gestured at us and his Grandma turned her head so quickly at us I was sure she had broken it._

"_Nice to meet you. Come on Neville, we really must be going." She said to which Seamus snorted unintentionally which caused me and Dean to laugh again. We must really be making a good impression. It earned us a glare I would never forget for the rest of my life. I could've sworn she was stabbing me in that glare. Heck, maybe she was._

"_Bye guys!" Neville shouted back while his grandma ushered him out the station out of sight._

"_Did you guys feel that stabbing sensation?" Dean asked slightly shaken._

"_Yep." Seamus and I replied at the same time shuddering. It wasn't long before Seamus parents came over with Deans' to take them home. They were always nice to me so I soon forgot about the stabbing sensation of a glare from Neville's grandma. Honestly how could someone so EVIL be related to someone so timid and nice? Families are so strange..._

Neville shook his head. "I'm still sorry about that, you know!"

"It's alright, Hey look!" I quickly changed the subject. "There's Seamus and Dean!"

"Could've woken us up, Neville!" Seamus greeted.

"Hello to you too!" I greeted back.

"It was still pretty early..." Neville mumbled looking guilty.

"Leave him alone, Seamus, He's always been an early riser!" I retorted sticking up for Neville.

"Speaking of early risers..." Seamus pointedly looked at me and I squirmed under his gaze. "How early did you get up today then?"

"Not sure" I responded. "Before the sun rose definitely." I smiled as both Seamus and Deans' jaws dropped.

"That must be a new record for the first day!"

"Cause for a celebration, that is!" Dean smiled.

"Alright, guys, I'm an early riser. Want your timetables?" I held them up in my hand and snatched them away before they could grab them.

"What's the magic word?" I taunted them.

"Please?" Dean asked and I smiled and gave him his timetable. Seamus looked at me expectantly.

"C'mon, Seamus, be a gentleman for once?"

"_Please_ may you give me my timetable, your highness?" He made a big deal out of it and I giggled as I gave him his timetable.

"Sure thing, _Peasant._"

He mock gasped and snatched it out of my hands making a big deal out of reading it while the three of us looked on in amusement. I decided to take up a conversation with Dean.

"So Dean, Don't suppose you took care of magical creatures?"

"Yep! Along with divination – that'll be a laugh, aaaannnddd," He looked back at his sheet, "Muggle Studies!" He looked proud and I snorted.

"Have fun studying Muggles... Oh how EVER do they survive without magic!"

Dean gave me a glare. "What did you take then, Miss I-am-so-amazing-with-whatever-I-do?"

"Well. I took Care of Magical creatures – like you, along with divination!" I gave him a mock proud look that he had given me.

"I can't really argue with that..." Dean surrendered and I smirked victoriously.

Seamus looked up from his timetable. "Looks like we'll be buddies in care of magical creatures and divination!"

"Did you know that Neville wanted to take ancient runes?" I said in stage whisper across the table.

Dean and Seamus' jaws dropped again but they quickly recovered.

"Why didn't you?" Seamus asked slightly confused after he recovered.

"My grandma thought it was a stupid subject to take" Neville replied with a shrug and Seamus nodded in understanding no doubt thinking of the stabbing glare.

"I'm still willing to bet that she was actually stabbing us with her mind last summer" Dean said wistfully and I smirked.

"No doubt about that." Seamus agreed. "I can still the stabbing in my stomach sometimes..."

"Guys!" Neville half-heartedly tried to stop us talking about her grandma so rudely but even I knew he found it amusing.

We continued our banter for another 5 minutes before getting up to go to our lessons. This morning it just so happened to be Divination so we began our journey to a place we hadn't even been before.

5 minutes later we realised we were probably more lost than Neville would have ever been alone. Seamus let out an aggravated sigh. "We're not going to get anywhere in this castle! I swear we've past this knight for the fifth time!"

Dean let out a short chuckle. "Chill out, Seamus! Maybe that portrait can help!" He walked away to a portrait with a women reading under a willow tree.

"Um, Excuse me?" Dean began startling the women causing her to drop her book but thankfully she didn't glare. "Do you know the way to the divination class?"

The woman nodded. "Just continue down to the end of the corridor and go right, then..."

To put it short she told us the way and we found divination quite easily after that. We weren't the first to arrive but certainly not the last either, so we joined the standing and confused students around us. "I've heard she's a nutcase." Seamus mumbled, referring to the teacher.

"She has good taste in seating though!" I smirked looking around the room as Seamus grimaced.

"Looks like one of those antique shops that have just been closed."

"I can't see a thing." Neville stated as he finally made it up the stairs on the fifth try.

"I'm on Freya's side." Dean simply stated while picking up the tea that was on a nearby table.

"DON'TOUCH ANYTHING!" A voice practically yelled from the darkness. Dean jumped and managed to not drop the tea – damn him, as he placed it back down. "My boy, we must wait till the class begins and you shouldn't touch what you do not know." We still couldn't see the woman and it unnerved me.

"It's just a cup of tea!" Dean exclaimed but surrendered all the same leaning on the same table he took the tea from making him sink slightly. It made him look shorter than he actually was which made me feel better about my own height. Dean was probably the tallest guy in our year and still growing! Seamus often referred to him as – and I quote - 'one of those super tall trees you get in Australia or something.' Great describing skills there, Seamus. Harry, Ron and Hermione climbed up the ladder behind us and we moved to let them in.

"Welcome." Said a much calmer voice than the one that had just reprimanded dean earlier. I guess he ruined her whole welcoming speech with that. "How nice to see you in the physical world at last."

I joined in the few snorts that resounded around the room along with Seamus and Dean. Honestly, I don't even know why they bothered to take this class... scratch that, I don't even know myself – oh wait. My dad made a comment that I would have no chance in this lesson so I shouldn't choose it. Damn my 'I'LL-PROVE-YOU-WRONG' attitude to things!

A woman made her way into the light of a fireplace and oh wow she had eyes like a bug! Seamus started shaking with laughter next to me so I stood on his foot to stop laughing at her appearance. I hated making snide remarks about people behind their back! Any second now he would voice my thought out loud and then he'd earn a punch on the shoulder. Sure I thought about their appearance but never anything too harsh and I most certainly never said it out loud.

"Sit, my children, sit" Dean, Seamus, Neville and I quickly sat at the table that Dean nearly spilled tea all over. I really wish he had done but he had really good reaction times to stuff like that.

While dean had good saving skills, I had the reflexes of a... animal of some sort – I never really thought about what animal has really fast reflexes but I'm pretty sure my patronus would reflect that. When my dad heard there would be dementors at the school he took no time at all to lecture me on their weaknesses and how I should learn how to do a patronus soon. Psh, no chance – I've seen the effort it takes! It would be cool to be a wolf though, despite my dad actually being one. Hmm maybe I have wolf in my _blood_. That's a scary thought.

"Now I want you to divide into pairs. Collect a teacup from the shelf, come to me and I will fill it" Guess that explains why dean never actually spilled any. "Then sit down and drink; drink until only the dregs remain. Swill these around the cup three times with the left hand, then turn the cup upside down on its saucer; wait for the last of the tea to drain away, then give your cup to your partner to read. You will interpret the patterns using pages five and six of _Unfogging the future_" She droned on a bit further, scaring Neville in the process and when we were finally able to collect our cups I nearly walked right into Harry Potter and I mumbled a sorry and quickly got my tea filled ignoring the wide eyes of shock from Trelawney. If she was seeing my future, I bet she is seeing a werewolf somewhere in it.

I quickly ran (well walked quickly) away before she said anything and sat down next to Seamus and dean again. Neville came stumbling back a few moments later with his second cup of tea – he dropped the first one.

"Dean, you're with me." I stated as I braved a sip of tea. Dean just shrugged and Seamus sent me a quick glare but moved to sit next to Neville. It's not that I didn't like Neville or Seamus it's just that... they both have tendencies to mess up. At least with Dean the work won't get blown up or destroyed somehow.

"I don't even like tea." I mumbled as I took a swig of it in my mouth trying to ignore the weird taste it gave me. It tasted like hot water to me – yuck. I soldiered through and I swilled the cup around in my left hand three times and quickly turned the cup face down on its saucer. Proud of my efforts I looked up to see that Dean had already done this and I slumped slightly in defeat.

"I have a feeling she's making up things when she tells us our futures." Dean stated after he placed his cup on his saucer.

"Well, duh" I retorted grinning. "You earned a gold star!"

"Shut up." Dean mumbled.

"Great comeback there, Dean." I smirked.

"Right. Let's see what your future holds, shall we, Dean?" I opened the book and examined Dean's cup.

"Okay... this blob looks like a ball" I looked at the book for a better description. "This means sport, I think. And then you have another blob which looks like a ... heart? Yeah, a heart which we all know represents love sooo I'm guessing you're going to find love and play sport?" I resisted the urge to laugh at my failure.

Dean snorted. "Yay for the future! Let me see your cup then." I passed him my own cup and he peered into it so seriously I couldn't help but laugh again.

"Everything alright, my dear?" A voice asked behind me making me jump like I always did in surprise – seriously, it's hard to get used to.

"Yep, sorry, Dean said a funny joke." I stated as Dean started to snigger along with Seamus who was watching us with amusement. Neville just stared at her in fear.

Professor Trelawney looked like she was about to say something else but Lavender – god I hate her so - called her over and she was gone in an instant. I could go on a rant about Lavender Brown right now but I really don't want to ruin my mood.

"It looks like you'll be suffering and be facing a great enemy. You also have danger in your path as well as love along the way." He placed the cup back down again and smiled sympathetically. "Hope I've read it wrong," He muttered.

"Meh, I'll be prepared. Hey!" An idea came to me, "I could just engage them into a kung fu match!"

The lesson ended with Trelawney making a dramatic show over Harry Potter's teacup which shared a lot of the same things as mine – apart from this so called grim she went mad over. Honestly, she could work in the West End! Hmm, Maybe I should 'accidently' leave a West End booklet around here sometime...

We all walked our way to Transfiguration next but we all seemed to get lost, much to McGonagall's disapproval.

"Today," She began as we all took our seats. I sat down next to Neville with Seamus and Dean in front of us – brilliant! "I will be teaching you about Animagi..." I should've listened, I really should've but instead I just stared at the back of Seamus' head wondering how soft his hair was. He had grown it over the summer so it was long enough for him to flick- I shook my head to try and get rid of the thoughts and saw Neville stare at me strangely. I smiled back at him to show nothing was wrong when in fact there was. Seamus was one of my best friends! I couldn't let that get any more especially at this age, god it would be a disaster if we broke up, dean would take Seamus' side but still try and stay friends while Neville will probably end up in the middle. Oh bloody hell, why do I always think of the future. Suddenly McGonagall changed into a _cat_ in front of us causing me to jump in surprise and I had to say... It really made me want to become an animagus... I'll save that thought for later.

"Really, what has got into you all today?" said Professor McGonagall, turning back into her human form again. "Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not got applause from a class." I didn't realise we were meant to clap, woops.

Everybody's heads turned toward Harry. I rolled my eyes, everyone was so superstitious!

"Please, Professor," I heard Hermione Granger say, "we've just had our first Divination class, and we were reading the tea leaves, and -"

"Ah, of course," said Professor McGonagall, "There is no need to say any more, Miss Granger. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?"

"Me," Harry replied soberly. Poor Harry, constantly facing death – honestly he is practically a trouble magnet.

"I see," said Professor McGonagall. "Then you should know, Potter, that Sibyl Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them have died yet. Seeing death omens is her favourite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues -" Professor McGonagall stopped speaking for a second to breathe then continued less angrily, "Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic. I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney..."

She trailed off before saying, "You look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."

Hermione laughed - weirdo... I do like Hermione but her student attitude does get on my nerves sometimes. We often have good conversations in the dormitory but that's about it.

Lavender whispered, "But what about Neville's cup?" I saw Neville shiver and I patted his arm.

"Neville, she saw how shaky you looked when you walked over to her, it was just luck she predicted that!" I consoled him and he brightened slightly.

I decided to listen for the rest of the lesson with a newfound objective to become an animagus, maybe I should persuade McGonagall to teach me... Actually I should probably just ask my Dad – godamnit why isn't James alive still and why is Sirius on the run?

"You're homework is to write 6 parchments on Animagi: advantages and disadvantages. Class Dismissed." Everyone stood up and I naturally joined them as they left the classroom.

"Thank god it's lunch, I'm STARVING!" I exclaimed walking ahead of the guys to get a good seat in the great hall.

Once everyone had arrived food filled up the tables and my tummy rumbled louder than ever. This caused the nearby Weasley twins further down the table to look at me weirdly then laughed along with many other people. I just smiled and began piling my plate with some sausage rolls.

I've talked to the Weasley twins every now and then. Mainly because I often woke up early enough for it still to be considered late by some people A.K.A the Weasley twins who often stayed in the common room up late planning pranks. I helped them with one once – not that anyone knows that...

Long story short, I like to think I am friends with those two.

This, of course, is _always_ a good thing.

* * *

**In case you haven't already go check out the amazing EosAella (whatever that means...) she writes Merlin fanfiction so...yeah :D **

**Thanks for reading if you are, REVIEW :)**


	3. Well, Well, Well, What do we have here?

After lunch we walked over to care of magical creatures holding our books in our hands. I started to stroke the spine.

"So how are we meant to just open these and hope they like us?" Dean asked holding his book tentatively.

"Just stroke the spine before you open it." I shrugged as I continued to stroke its spine.

"What? That's insane! Just like Hagrid!" Seamus exclaimed and I glared at him.

"C'mon, don't be mean. Hagrid is the best man here!" I argued. I have had my fair share of having a cup of tea in his hut.

"Fine but I bet it's going to be some crazy creature today." Seamus muttered.

"Why did you even take this subject if you're acting all grumpy about it?" I asked and Dean snorted.

"He thinks one of the creatures we study this year will try and kill him" Dean said fighting the laughter in his voice.

"Oh, Seamus... Want me to protect you from the big bad creatures?" I said mockingly and he glared at me.

"I can handle myself, thank you!"

I shrugged, "Fine, save yourself from an evil Nargle."

Everyone stared. Woops, I forgot most people don't believe in them... I blushed and just shook my head as we arrived at Hagrid's hut for the lesson.

Hagrid led us to a paddock around the edge of the forest. Luna and I had found this place last year and it was a great place to think.

Hagrid told us to open our books and I was one of the few that did with ease. I noticed that everyone had belts and such around them. Course despite me telling Seamus, Dean and Neville how to handle them, they didn't look as relaxed as they took them out. I smirked as Seamus as he immediately dropped his book to the floor as it tried to bite him. I picked it up, stroking the spine as I did and gave it back to Seamus with a triumphant look.

"You should really listen to me more often." I whispered as Harry told Malfoy to 'shut up' after he insulted the books and everything in general. What a git. Did I ever tell you that I hexed him last year and he never found out it was me? Good times...

Hagrid went off into the forest and came back with Hippogriffs and I felt my mouth break into a grin. I honestly loved these creatures and despite my pleading, my dad would never take me to visit some when we had once lived nearby a herd in Lancashire. It didn't matter though because every night I simply visited them secretly. I quickly learned that they were extremely proud creatures who wanted you to show respect first (I came home one night with a broken arm but I simply made myself fall down the stairs the next morning to make it look like I broke it then – oh yes, I was a hardcore child). Of course I had never had a chance to fly on one since the ones I had visited had been tethered with this magic rope that would only extend to the edge of the paddock they were inside of. That and I was extremely scared to even try.

Hagrid asked if anyone wanted to go first and before I could stop myself I edged forward raising my hand. "I'll go..." I said nervously much to Hagrid's smile that broke out on his face.

I climbed into the paddock as sharp intakes of breath and whispering took up behind me and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Right then – let's see how well you get on with Buckbeak." He walked away again to untie one of the closer Hippogriffs and brought him over. I glanced around the paddock to see Dean give an encouraging smile.

The Hippogriff gave me a cold stare. These were not like the previous Hippogriffs I had met but I stood my ground.

"Easy now, Freya," said Hagrid quietly. "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink...Hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much..."

I continued to stare at Buckbeak, and naturally he stared back. It was pretty much a staring contest. "Tha's it," said Hagrid. "Tha's it, Freya...now, bow."

Already having practised bowing in front of these creatures I gave a long bow before looking back at the creature that didn't seem to be impressed. Oh well, it was worth a shot, the other hippogriffs looked much friendlier than this one for starters.

"Ah," said Hagrid. "Right - back away, now, Freya, easy does it -"

I was about to slowly back away as he said when the hippogriff lowered onto his knees into a bow. I smiled – my long running streak of getting on well with animals was not broken!

"Well done, Freya!" said Hagrid happily. "Right - yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"

I did as he said and approached the creature as if he was like the ones back in Lancashire. I tentatively held out my hand and Buckbeak moved into it and closed his eyes happily. Looks like Buckbeak was a big softy after all! Huzzah! I conquer the hippogriffs once again! Ahem...

I stroked his beak and I could've sworn Buckbeak sighed contently.

I heard applause sound around me and I felt a familiar heat rise in my cheeks and I continued to give my attention to Buckbeak.

"Righ' then, Freya," said Hagrid excitedly. I eyed him warily. "I reckon he migh' let yeh ride him!"

Oh dear.

"Yeh climb up there, jus' behind the wing joint," said Hagrid pointing to Buckbeak's wing, "an' mind yeh don' pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that..."

I carefully put my foot on top of the wing and brought myself. I felt Buckbeak rise underneath me and I couldn't help but grab onto the feathers but not enough to pull them out thankfully. Before I could even get comfortable and not fall off Hagrid shouted "Go on, then!" slapping the Hippogriffs hindquarters. Oh, Merlin, help me now.

I felt the wings beside both my feet rise up and down and I mumbled sorry to Buckbeak as I grabbed onto his feathers once again. We rose into the air and the heavy thudding of the wings almost made me fall due to the sheer power within them.

Buckbeak flew around the paddock once and then began to lower himself to the ground again. I prepared myself for impact. I felt myself fall forward almost and had to use all my strength not to fall off his head! There was a heavy thud as we landed. I once again used all my strength to not look stupid and keep myself upright.

"Good work, Freya!" cheered Hagrid as everyone else joined in.

"Okay, who else wants a go?"

After that I soon felt a congratulatory pat on the shoulders from Dean and Seamus as well as a small 'congratulations' from Neville. I smiled back at them and led them towards another Hippogriff as Malfoy and his goons had already commandeered Buckbeak. I smiled sympathetically at Buckbeak as we walked by.

Dean volunteered to bow first and he did so in a rather gentlemanly way – I had to resist laughing at his politeness. It worked though. Soon enough Dean was stroking the hippogriff which I had secretly named Reginald.

"Your turn, Seamus!" Dean grinned at him as he stepped away from Reginald and gestured for Seamus to take his place.

I looked around the paddock and watched Harry bow to Buckbeak nearby and succeeded as he always did.

"Easy now..." Seamus muttered as he approached the Hippogriff after it bowed. He stroked his head and was grinning at us stupidly.

"WOO! GO Seamus!" I cheered along with Dean. Neville looked like he was about to faint – bless him.

"This is very easy," I heard Malfoy sneer suddenly from nearby. "I knew it must have been, if the Lupin girl could do it... I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" I froze. This was not going to end well, Hippogriffs can easily hurt humans... "Are you, you great ugly brute?"

I smirked waiting for the scream that was bound to follow. And what a scream it was! Even I couldn't scream that girly! I looked over to see Malfoy curled in the foetal position on the grass clutching his arm. Overdramatic much? Maybe he should join Trelawney at the West End.

The class went into panic mode and I rolled my eyes as I went over to stroke Reginald again. I wonder if he'll stick around in the forest?

"I'm dying! I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!"

"Technically the dead don't speak..." I muttered to Dean who happened to be next to me. He chuckled.

"Yer not dyin'!" Hagrid muttered, paling considerably as he spoke. "Someone help me – gotta get him out here" Hagrid said as he picked up a whimpering Malfoy in his arms. Hermione rushed over to open the gate and Hagrid ran out on the way to hospital wing within the castle.

The rest of the class decided it was best to follow him and we all trudged our own way to the castle. I wondered briefly if I should stay with the Hippogriffs but Seamus was already dragging me along knowing what I would try and do. I stroked Buckbeak as I went by and I felt him relax considerably from my touch.

Not to my surprise, The Slytherins were already shouting bad things about Hagrid and I had to resist the urge to punch Pansy in the face when she whined, "They should fire him straight away!" Oh how mature.

"It was Malfoy's fault!" Dean Thomas argued and I laughed a bit too loudly to earn a glare from Pansy while Crabbe and Goyle flexed their "muscles" – if you could call them muscles, more like steroids – at Dean and me.

As soon as we started up the marble stairs to the castle, Pansy said, "I'm going to see if he's okay!" And ran towards the hospital wing. Everyone else began to mutter and depart to their respective common rooms.

"At least we have no more lessons till tea time?" Seamus considered as we walked half heartedly to the common room. We were the last Gryffindors on the journey to it and we didn't seem to be in a hurry like the rest of them.

"But that was a really fun lesson!" I whined resisting the urge to hit Seamus in my anger.

"Draco almost got killed!" Neville whimpered as he probably flashbacked to the moment – bloody hell I cannot WAIT for the day he unlocks his courage which I know he has.

"His own bloody fault." I muttered. "Everyone knows you don't approach a hippogriff cockily unless you want to be attacked. They're surprisingly intelligent to understand if you say anything rude about them as well."

They all looked at me like I was some kind of alien. "What?" I asked wide eyed. "It's common knowledge! ... Isn't it?" They all shook their heads.

"Your dad tell you about all these creatures?" Dean asked.

"Nah, visited a herd of some Hippogriffs when I was 8 for a few nights when my dad was sleeping, you learn pretty quick on how to act." I shrugged as if it was no big deal even though I was secretly proud of my mini adventure.

"You mean you snuck out of the house without your Dads permission!" Neville asked looking on with amazement.

"That's kinda the point of sneaking out..." I said as I smiled at him.

"Bloody hell..." Seamus muttered.

"That's Ron's phrases not yours, Seamus!" I mock gasped making us all burst out into laughter as we continued on our way to the common room.

The rest of the day was spent with me lecturing the guys on Animagi for our essay which I found surprisingly easy considering I listened for only half the lesson. Guess anything to do with animals really made me understand easier. If only they could make History of Magic like this...

I voiced this thought to the guys and Seamus immediately responded with a story.

"And Merlin the owl, as brave as he was wise guided King Arthur the toad in the only way he knew how and they ruled the animal kingdom full of giraffes and Hippos protecting them from evil and dark creatures such as Nimueh the buffalo." He finished solemnly causing an outburst of laughter from the rest of us. This lead to multiple strange looks from other Gryffindors nearby but they soon went back to their conversations.

"Seriously?" I asked once I got my breath under control again. "You honestly think Nimueh would be a buffalo?" Seamus nodded proudly causing Dean to snort.

"More like a hawk or something..." Dean mused and I nodded.

"Not a _buffalo_! Honestly... what would that do? Are a herd of buffalos' going to try and run over a toad? Actually... yep, Buffalo suits her just fine!"

The rest of the evening went by in a breeze once we had finished the transfiguration essay. We noticed at dinner, Hagrid wasn't there.

"Hope he isn't fired..." Dean muttered voicing everyone's thoughts.

In potions the next morning (double – yuck.) Malfoy swaggered in halfway through as If he owned the place and snape didn't even blink an eye causing all the Gryffindors to mutter angrily.

"He would've taken twenty points off, if it was us!" Was heard from many places around the classroom.

We were making shrinking potions and I was currently glaring enviously at Dean who was chopping up his daisy roots perfectly on his first try. Mine looked rather...mushed.

"How do you do that?" I asked him amazed and Dean just shrugged.

"Just like cutting up food really, I like to cook." Dean stated smiling and I just groaned as I poured the daisy roots in and it bubbled, changing to a horrible shade of green.

"Good Luck, Lupin." Seamus whispered beside me trying to maintain his laughter. I resisted the urge to punch him because I knew it would result on Snape bringing his attention to me which I did NOT want. He hated me for some reason just as much as Harry Potter. Don't blame him; our fathers were complete douches to him. Well, Harry's more than mine. My dad just pointed out the holes in any of the marauder pranks before they pulled them.

At least Harry always brought Snape brought attention to himself more than me – like now for example as Malfoy was demanding Harry and Ron help make his potion. I nudged Seamus and discreetly pointed over to which he smirked.

"Unlucky." He stated summing up the situation perfectly.

Potions soon passed and I tried to be as slow as possible packing up but it was no use and soon we were on our way to DADA with my DAD. Oh how lovely. As much as I was looking forward to it, it just felt extremely weird. Not to mention awkward too.

We succeeded in being the last in the class (I totally didn't make Seamus trip and fall into Dean into a pile on the floor...Course not, why would you think that?). However as soon as we entered everyone stood up to leave.

"Ah! Glad you could finally arrive!" My dad said smiling down at us and I couldn't help but smile back. It was seriously weird seeing your father at Hogwarts teaching one of your favourite lessons despite the last two teachers I have had (that's a whole other story).

"We're having a practical lesson, follow me." He smirked at me quickly before walking away with the rest of the class behind him. We quickly tagged along at the end of the line as Seamus said to me, "See. You're dad is so awesome he's giving us a practical lesson on the FIRST day!"

"He seems pretty epic." Dean agreed. I gave him a weird look.

"You never say epic, Dean!" He shrugged in response.

Halfway on our journey and we came across Peeves who immediately started singing a song that was let's say... not very inventive. I wondered how my dad would deal with him and soon enough I saw.

"This is a useful little spell," My dad told us over still staring at Peeves. "Please watch closely."

"Waddiwasi!" The spell shot out at peeves and the chewing gum that Peeves had been trying to stuff into a keyhole flew out and into his nose. Most of the class giggled as Peeves flew away.

"Cool, sir!" Dean said beside me causing me to giggle.

"Thank you, Dean. Shall we proceed?" My dad replied and continued on. I couldn't help feeling proud of my dad as I saw the respectful looks at my dad from fellow classmates. On more than one occasion, I saw people glance my way while we walked.

We stopped outside the staff room and I couldn't help raise my eyebrows at this. What on EARTH could we do in a staff room?

"Inside, please," Professor Lupin commanded as he opened the door. I walked in along with everyone else and instantly spotted Professor Snape sneering at us from an armchair nearby. He got up to leave and as he left he turned and said, "Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear."

I mustered the most evil glare I could give to Snape and found Seamus and Dean joining me with this. If only we could master the stabbing glare that Neville's' grandma could do... Note to self: Look in the library for a stabbing curse.

"I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation, and I am sure he will perform it admirably." Lupin answered sticking up for him and I shot a thank you glance at my Dad even though he wasn't looking. Snape muttered as he left the room – poor snape, lost again. Gotta admit, he never wins does he?

"Now then" Professor Lupin walked over to a wardrobe which started to shake violently. Oh please don't be what I think it is...

"Nothing to worry about, There's a boggart in there." It took a lot of effort not to groan and face palm. I saw Seamus stare at the wardrobe with apprehension along with Dean. I hope they remembered my little lecture on them at the beginning of the year.

Lupin began a short explanation on Boggarts with Hermione answering his question on what a Boggart is with pride. Psh. I could've answered that better if – well, I hadn't exactly put my hand up to answer so it's my own fault really.

Now Lupin was asking Neville was most scared of and I had a sneaking feeling it would be his grandma but he surprised me by saying Professor Snape. Who could blame him?

Long story short, he asked him to imagine snape in his grandmas eccentric clothing and was now asking us to imagine our greatest fear and make it comical.

I was thankful to already know what to do but it didn't make the task any easier. I had only encountered a Boggart once and that was when I was 8. My dad had found one in a wardrobe in the attic of one of our many houses and decided it would be good for me to prepare for a future encounter. Let's just say that I had nightmares that night because I couldn't do the spell.

I hadn't faced a boggarts since then but I had researched them enough to know how to deal with them. Course it is pretty hard to change my fear of dark enclosed spaces into something funny.

Want to know how I got this fear? I fell into a well when I was 4. Yep. Pretty deep one too so I should thank my accidental magic for cushioning the fall but I wish it had just made me escape the well. But _noooo_ stuck in a dark well all because I had snuck out the one night (sneaking out started at an early age, yes) when my dad was out 'werewolfing' so it took a day before he finally found me. I shuddered at the thought but continued to keep my eyes closed as my dad had instructed us to do.

When I had first encountered a boggart, it had surrounded me in darkness so I couldn't see anything and I couldn't run away from it. It even made my voice echo when I screamed for my dad to help – which he immediately did.

Back to the scene at hand...

"Everyone ready?" Asked Professor Lupin. I nodded along with most of the class determined to fight my boggart but I noticed Harry Potter look slightly startled and lost. Oh Merlin, he must have a really scary fear – he better go last. I don't want my fear changing into anything worse thank you very much!

"On the count of three, Neville," Professor Lupin began and I snapped back to reality – I really needed to stop doing that.

"One, two, three, _now_!" My dad opened the wardrobe with his wand and Professor Snape stepped out of the wardrobe looking malicious.

The class watched wordlessly as Neville raised his wand and stammered out a '_Ridikulus_!' and Professor Snape now resembled an eccentric Transvestite. Oh Merlin, this is bloody _brilliant_!

"Freya! Forward!" My eyes widened and I felt Seamus push me forward and I took a deep breath and stood in front of the snape transvestite. He looked at me before a crack sounded and I was back in the same position I found myself in 5 years ago. I swallowed my fear and yelled 'RIDIKULUS' and the well broke apart around me allowing me to free once again. I stepped over the bricks grinning broadly at my Dad to show I had finally conquered my fear. He grinned back before shouting, "Parvati!" I smiled politely at Parvati as she stumbled forwards and I took my spot at the back of the crowd of students next to Neville who I gave a congratulatory pat on the back.

"You did great Neville!" I grinned and he smiled back.

"I did, didn't I?" Neville looked shocked at how well he did and I hoped maybe this Boggart had finally unlocked his Gryffindor courage but I didn't hold up much help. Suddenly an ear piercing scream was heard around the room and I looked over the crowd to see Seamus facing a Banshee. Oh dear lord, I hate those things.

"Ridikulus!" Seamus shouted and the banshee was clutching its throat making a rasping sound as it had lost its voice. I grinned and held a thumbs up as Seamus heading over to me and Neville.

"That was brilliant!" Seamus exclaimed as he came over. "If only I could do that to a real life Banshee!"

I grinned and we all turned to watch Dean overcome his boggart which had taken the shape of a hand. "Ridikulus!" He shouted and boom. The hand was trapped in a mousetrap – heh. The hand reminded me of a muggle movie, Lupin had rented one evening called 'The Addams Family'. I was going to have to find that movie again and show Dean. He walked over to us and I high fived him along with Seamus.

"Excellent! Ron, you next!" I admired my dad for actually memorising every student's name.

Ron stepped forward and the trapped hand took the form of a HUGE spider. Oh, Merlin, help us.

A few screams resounded around the room and I rolled my eyes when I recognised one as Lavender Brown.

"Ridikulus!" Ron shouted and suddenly the spider had no legs and was rolling around. I grinned as it rolled towards Lavender who squealed jumping out the way – darn.

The legless spider halted in front of Harry who looked apprehensively at it but my Dad shouted, "Here!" Suddenly stepping in front of Harry. A crack sounded as the boggart took the form of the moon and I gulped hoping no-one would see it before he 'ridikulused' it.

"Forward, Neville, and finish him off!" Neville ran forward from next to me to face the Boggart one last time. Snape appeared again and was soon wearing a revealing lacy dress. I shuddered but then laughed when the snape boggart grimaced and tried to cover up.

"Ha!" Neville shouted in a victorious laughter and then Snape exploded into smoke. If only the real one could do that...

Everyone laughed along with Neville and I hoped our next lesson would be as fun as this one.

Professor Lupin gave out points to Gryffindor for everyone who confronted the Boggart (pretty much everyone then...) and even gave ten to Neville for tackling it twice. That oughta boost his confidence! I grinned at my dad as he gave Neville the points.

He also gave 5 each to Hermione and Harry to which harry responded with a "But I didn't do anything."

This guy really can't take points can he? My dad smoothly replied, "You and Hermione answered my questions correctly at the start of the class, harry. Very well, everyone, an excellent lesson. Homework."I groaned along with Seamus and Dean, "Kindly read the chapter on Boggarts and summarise it for me... to be handed in on Monday. That will be all."

The class walked out in high spirits. I stayed behind wanting to ask my dad about Animagus' and if it were possible for him to teach me how but as soon as everyone left I chickened out and decided to stick to the safe topic of his lessons.

"So how's the teaching going?" I asked him as he gathered some papers from around the room and gestured for me to follow him.

"The usual, the Weasley twins aren't as bad as the teachers describe..." He mused as walked down the corridor.

"They're cool aren't they? I should've known you would've taught us Boggarts! You're so predictable!" I smirked and nudged him mockingly.

My dad gave a mock look of sadness, "Well if you feel that way maybe I should take some points of your house!"

"Oh that is low!"

My dad simply grinned at me and walked into his classroom – that was a quick journey.

"Shouldn't you be hanging around with your friends and not your old embarrassing father?" He asked as he placed the papers he had been carrying onto the desk at the front of the room.

"I could... but they'll be pestering me to help them with the homework you just set us" I sat on one of the student desks and my dad leant against his own.

"Seems to me you only hang around with Seamus, Dean and Neville..." I saw where this was going. "Don't you have any female friends?" He asked grinning at me as I rolled my eyes.

"You saw them today! Lavender just squeals or insults you most of the time – she has the general 'annoying' aura if that makes sense, then there's Parvati who just listens to whatever Lavender says so she is just as bad as her and then you have Hermione who is alright but she's not much fun to talk to when she's reading. Plus most of the time she's with Ron and Harry so I don't have much choice there really. I talk to Luna Lovegood when I can though." I took a breath. I hardly ever talked like this but if my dad wanted the truth he was going to get it.

"Ah." He responded looking at the floor. "Well, I can't tell you to be friends with and you seem to have it alright so I'll stop questioning your friendships."

"Thanks, dad!" I hugged him. "I probably should go though... Snape set us a really long essay that is 18 parchments long! You don't mind do you?" I asked as I started walking towards the door.

"Go! Enjoy your homework! I expect a great piece of homework from you on Boggarts as well!" He chuckled as I waved and walked out the door. Maybe having a dad as a teacher wasn't that bad after all...


	4. How to pull a prank almost successfully

I decided to take a detour back to the common room via the kitchens as I was feeling hungry and dinner was at least two hours away and I was going to need food to keep me motivated to do this essay on 'shrinking potions and when you should use them'.

I tickled the pear and walked through the entrance into the kitchen. The first thing I noticed was that there was a new elf among the others – I prided myself in knowing the names of all the elves here from Janice to Orthon there were some pretty crazy names around the elf society. I probably got my memory of names from my dad as shown earlier.

When I entered I was ambushed with a million 'Hello's' and 'Welcome's' from the different house elves and my favourite one (don't tell them I have a favourite or I'll hex you) called Harvey came running up to me.

"Mistress would you like your usual order?" He asked with wide eyes. I grinned and nodded before he ran away again.

The new elf I didn't recognise walked up to me then. "My name is Dobby, Mistress. Dobby is pleased to meet you!" He bowed. That surprised me. I had never encountered an elf who would bow to me before and it was a strange feeling.

"Uh... no need to bow, Dobby, nice to meet you though!" I sat down cross legged on the floor so I was his height – a habit I often found myself doing down here. "Besides, we're all equals round here, aren't we?" Dobby stared at me with wide eyes. Guess he was recently freed and wasn't used to the whole 'we're equal' thing we had around here.

"True right!" Harvey joined us and handed me my usual. This was multiple millionaire shortbreads stacked on a plate so I could share them if I wish.

"Thanks, Harvey!" He nodded and ran away again to help with the feast for tonight. Dobby was still staring at me. "Want one?" I offered and gestured for him to take one but Dobby shook his head.

"An elf does not take his mistresses food." He stated as if he was repeating it from an earlier date.

I sighed. This guy was going to be hard to crack – almost as hard as Frodo who arrived halfway through last year after being rescued from a burning building of his (now dead) owners. They were really harsh towards him so Frodo assumed everyone was the same. Took a week just to bring him out of shell but after that if was pretty easy to show him that he could do what he wished – well, within reason of course, he couldn't exactly burn down the school if he wanted but I doubt he would do that.

"Dobby, listen to me. I don't know how you were treated before you came here but you've got to understand that most people that come down here aren't looking for a fight or to harm you! Besides, if they do, you can always teach them a lesson!" I grinned but Dobby clearly wasn't understanding me. "Look. Just take this shortbread. It's a present from me." I placed the shortbread in his hands, "To you." I pointed at his chest and he smiled.

"Next time I come down here, I hope you'll resemble a free elf just like the rest of these guys!" I gestured at the gaggle of elves that were rushing about cooking food. "Now how about you cook up some food for the feast tonight, eh?" I stood up and looked at him one last time. "I should probably go and do my homework, talk to you guys soon, bye!" I waved at the elves and many waved back, even Dobby did.

I pointed at the shortbread still in his hands. "I haven't poisoned that shortbread, you know..."I grinned at him and walked back out of the portrait. My dad used to say that me when I would just blank out after he would give me some chocolate so he thought I didn't want to eat it.

Right. Back to the common room I go, trying to avoid anyone who shall take my food.

I managed to make it to the common room and not surrender any shortbread. I said the password to the fat lady who eyed the food curiously but I simply said 'not for you.' Not my proudest moment, I know.

I walked in and spotted Seamus and Dean looking bored as they stared at some blank pieces of parchment.

"Fancy some millionaire shortbread?" I asked appearing behind them making them jump considerably.

"Blimey, Faye! Can't you just walk noisily like normal people?" Seamus exclaimed.

"You're forgetting who you're talking to." Dean grinned at me and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"My offer still stands..." I held the plate in front of them and they took a piece each gratefully.

"Can you help us on this potions essay?" Dean pleaded and I shrugged.

"Surely you should be able to do it Mr. 'I-like-to-cook'" I said mockingly.

"I can do the potion but I can't write about them like you can." He gave me puppy dog eyes. I sighed. He knew I was a sucker for compliments.

Seamus caught on and joined in. "Yeah! You must be the best essay writer in our year!" I rolled my eyes. Dean facepalmed.

"Seamus. If you're going to try and persuade me you've got to be realistic."

"Aaand we've lost." Dean stated.

"I think it's true! Professor Flitwick loved that essay you did last year on the engorgio spell!" I felt a blush coming on and looked down.

"Fine. I'll help you two with your essay if you stop talking of my achievements!" I pulled a piece of parchment from the table and began to write my own essay on shrinking potion helping my friends along the way.

When we were at dinner I noticed, when the desserts appeared, that a small plate of millionaires shortbread was near me. I didn't bother to hide the stupid grin that was on my face and the guys simply assumed it was because of my favourite food being on the table. They didn't know I thought of it as a present from Dobby – the newest house elf to become my friend.

I didn't stick around for long after dinner because I felt strangely tired so I bid goodnight to Seamus and Dean before retiring to my dormitory for the night.

The next morning I woke, having only had 5 hours sleep to find the sun still not in the sky yet and I resisted the urge to chuckle. I don't think I'll ever wake up past 6:00am. Ever. Looking at Hermione's watch I saw it was only 1am, well I had gone to bed rather early yesterday. I rolled out of bed and was careful not to wake any of my roommates whom I don't talk to – I've mentioned this before. I looked around at them all. Hermione had fallen asleep with a book by her side like she often did. Lavender and Parvati were sleeping in the most unladylike positions I have ever seen. If only I had a camera... Oh the ultimate prank. I would never forgive myself though – ...or would I? I shook my head to get rid of the devil that was settling in.

Considering most of last year was spent trying to not get petrified or killed I wanted a year to just do what I wanted but that certainly didn't include ruining someone's life! I walked down into the common room and saw the Weasley twins lounging on the couches with Lee Jordan. They looked up at my entrance and grinned beckoning me over.

"Why, if it isn't the early riser!" Lee exclaimed as I sat down next to George Weasley.

"I had the same amount of sleep that any teenager would, I just sleep at a different time." I answered – we said the same things to each other every time this happened and I don't think it will ever change.

I heard George chuckle along with Fred. "Will you ever be normal?" He asked and I shook my head.

"Normal would be boring, George. And you know it would be!"

"Touché." He responded.

"Any new pranks in the works yet?" I asked and Fred grinned like a child on Christmas.

"Of course! You want to help?" I nodded beckoning for them to explain.

"Well it all starts like this..." Fred began.

I can't believe I was doing this. This was going to be _bloody brilliant_!

"Okay, if we place it in the dungeons it will be more amusing for every class but if we place it in the great hall everyone – even the teachers will get to see it! What's your verdict, Lupin?"

"The great hall, definitely. You guys can stall him before dinner tomorrow that way it can be used to the full effect!" I grinned.

"Right. everyone agree?" Fred asked and everyone nodded. "Let's go then!"

We stepped out of the portrait and headed down the corridor. Fred and George seemed to know which ways to go to avoid any teachers as we arrived at the Great Hall with no trouble. How you may ask? Well they just so happen to have the Marauders map. Yep. The same marauders as in the group my dad was in. I haven't told them my dad is part of the group though. I like to think of it as my ultimate prank. One day they will find out and maybe... just maybe they'll respect me a bit more. I'm kidding, that would be weird.

"Lee, Faye, keep an eye on the door. Me and Fred will set up the song." I rolled my eyes with Lee but we stayed by the door all the same.

"Sooo..." Lee grinned at me and I raised an eyebrow at this. "What's it like having your _dad_ at the school?"

Oh. "Not that bad really, besides, I know what to do to get the best grades so I'm not too bothered – plus everyone loves him." I smiled stupidly.

"He kept throwing spells at us and made us defend ourselves! Bloody brilliant." Lee mused and looked as if he was looking back to the lesson. I should've been surprised at this but I really wasn't.

"Did he throw the jelly legs curse at you? He loves that one" I'm pretty sure Snape is familiar with that spell too... I didn't say anything!

"5 times. But I stopped it the 5th time so that was interesting." He nodded his head to over where Fred and George were arguing over something – typical. "Those two managed to stop the spell on their first tries. They are such bloody show-offs!" Lee shook his head grinning.

"Well, there's a reason for that!" I watched out the door at the corridor we were meant to be guarding.

"Still wish I could beat them at something, ya' know?"

"You're the best bloody Quidditch commenter I've ever seen. Plus you're probably the most charismatic guy that I've ever had the pleasure of meeting." I was telling the truth there.

"Oh stop it, you!" Lee said pretending to blush.

I shrugged. "Just because you're friends with those two twats" I pointed over to the still arguing twins, "You shouldn't feel any less than them."

"Oi!" Fred shouted and me and Lee looked over in surprise that he heard. "This git won't let me press the final button!" He gestured over to George looking indignant. Oh.

"I want to press it!"

"Oh, honestly, you two." I felt like Hermione for a moment.

I walked over to them both with Lee following behind not even bothering to hide his laugh. I stood between them for a few moments inspecting the button before I reached over and pressed the button and heard two shocked gasps behind me and I was pulled away.

"We were going to do that!" They said simultaneously clearly trying to freak me out.

"The twin thing doesn't faze me." I attempted to shrug but I was trapped.

"Ah but does this...?" I felt a tickle at my side and I froze in fear.

"Please don't." I begged but judging from the grin on their faces, they weren't.

"We'll make a deal." Fred said as he circled me with a smug look on his face.

"Admit that we are the best pranksters to ever face the school. Ever!"

Oh dear that was hard...

"No can do, mister. The marauders were clearly better than you." I didn't even realized how loudly we were speaking.

"Oh really now...?" I was going to regret this wasn't I? I never found out what they were going to do though because Professor Snape chose that moment to walk into the room in anger and well... the great hall started playing Darth Vader's theme song so loudly I'm sure the whole castle heard. I facepalmed along with Lee, while Fred and George just smirked and high-fived – typical.

Professor Snape death glared us and I gulped. Professor McGonagall walked in right behind him (in her pyjamas it seemed, how amusing) and stared at us in astonishment. I leaned back to turn off the theme song discreetly.

"What is the meaning of all this?" Professor McGonagall asked fuming. "It is 3 o'clock in the _morning_! 20 points from _each_ of you!"

I noticed Fred, George and Lee grin at each other. "Well, we decided we wanted to have a midnight feast but we found that there was no food down here so we were just about to head up to our common room again..." Fred said as he tried to walk out behind professor McGonagall.

"Not so fast..." Professor Snape said as grabbed the back of Fred's shirt. "Come on you four. To the headmaster's office." Snape turned around dragging Fred behind him leaving no choice but for the rest of us to follow with McGonagall glaring into our backs.

"We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz..." I murmured to Lee who laughed out loud.

"Be quiet." Snape snapped (heh. Snapped.) up ahead and we put our heads down again still smirking. George stared at us in amusement.

The rest of the journey was in amused silence until we arrived at the griffin statue to Dumbledore's office.

"Sherbet Lemons." Snape muttered. Such a weird thing for him to say- oh... password to the office, I get it now. In case you haven't realised, I have avoided a trip to the headmaster's office before now.

The griffin statue twirled around to reveal a staircase and I resisted the urge to gape. The rest of the group seemed unfazed by this so I didn't want to look stupid. Guess it's a bit late for that...

We all followed Snape up the stairs and found Dumbledore waiting for us behind his desk – Does this guy ever sleep? Mind you... The theme song was rather loud... Woops. I noticed he was wearing Purple silk pyjamas with a matching purple sleeping hat.

"Professor," Snape began. "These 4 students were out of bed after hours playing insolent games in the _great hall_." Bit harsh when you put it like that...

"I'm sure they had good reason," Dumbledore smiled at us. "That song was quite catchy if I say so myself, Isn't it from that Muggle movie?"

"Star Wars, Professor." Lee Jordan told him grinning.

"I must make a note to watch that, sounds quite popular in the muggle world." I saw Snape stare at him with unbelieving eyes. I had a feeling we were going to get off lightly here – hopefully.

"Professor, if I do say so myself, They did disturb the entire castle with the song." McGonagall said joining Snape's side it seemed. "However, I will be happy to give them detentions with me for the month." I hid my grin. Detentions with McGonagall? From what I had heard from Fred, George and Lee, they just involved helping her with a few tasks.

"Sounds perfect!" Dumbledore smiled. "Would you be as kind as to escort these four back to their common room?" McGonagall nodded and gestured for us to follow her out. Which we did of course, no point standing awkwardly in the headmasters' office for no reason.

Once we arrived back at the common room and we were sure McGonagall was gone, the boys leapt into celebration leaving me stuck in the middle trying to make sure I didn't fall over.

"That was brilliant!"

"Did you see Snape's face?"

"Pure genius!"

Once I was free I suddenly realised that the common room was half full with curious faces. I blushed and nudged George. Hard.

"What?" I pointed to the common room.

"Ah. Fred, Lee. We have company!" They both looked around at this point and grinned along with George. Seriously. These guys never stop grinning, it's unreal.

"Hello everybody!" Fred greeted.

"You can thank us later for the most epic prank that has ever been played in Hogwarts! All with the help with our little friend Faye here!" Fred put his arm around me and I grinned along uneasily with them.

The portrait opened up behind us and McGonagall entered again.

"If you don't want more points taken off of you, I would suggest you all go to bed. _Now_." We all nodded and I bid the guys 'good night' even though I had no intention of sleeping.

I walked into the dormitory to see Hermione's accusatory eyes staring at me. "Where have you been?" She asked more tentatively.

I shrugged. "To the great hall with Fred, George and Lee."

"Were you behind that music that began to play half an hour ago?" She asked even though it was obvious she already knew the answer. That long ago?

I grinned. "Yeah... We're going to make it play at dinner tomorrow – the original intention. You'll see the full appreciation then."

"I hope you didn't get into too much trouble."

"Don't worry. We got twenty points each taken so it's only..." I quickly did the maths, "80!" I resisted the urge to laugh at her horrified face.

"Why didn't you just wait until the morning?" She asked.

"Technically it already is..." I answered causing a glare to come my way. I had been glared at way too much in the last two days.

"It's irresponsible." She continued to glare.

"Should I list the late night adventures that _you've_ had?" I retorted causing Hermione to give up the glare.

"That's different."

"Is not."

"What you think is none of your business. Each time was for a good purpose , I'll have you know."

"So... going to a duel that was non-existent in 1st year was _totally_ for a good purpose. How many points did you lose again?" I smirked as she gaped lost for words.

"Aren't you tired?" I asked as she continued to try and think of a reply.

"A bit." She responded frowning.

"Well, from the amount of homework you've been it's no surprise!" Hermione stared at me with wide eyes.

"How did you know?" She asked.

"Well... It's no secret really..." I trailed off as I sat on my bed. I looked at Hermione's watch on her table – this was becoming a big habit. It was now 3:00am and I was sure Hermione wanted to go back to sleep. "Anyways..." I faked a yawn, "That prank tired me out, talk later, Hermione!" I closed the curtains quickly and took out the monster book of monsters from underneath my pillow. Looks like I'll be reading till sunrise...

Throughout the day, people would greet me randomly in the hallways and I confusedly waved back. I didn't find out till lunch that Fred, George and Lee had been recounting the prank we had made last night to anyone who would listen, with me playing a main part it seemed. So naturally that caused most of the school to look at me in a new light – that girl who pulled an awesome prank with these guys. Yay me?

"I cannot believe those twerps." I muttered as I sat down next to Seamus interrupting his conversation with Dean about football at dinner.

"What's up?" He asked smirking probably already guessing.

"Fred. George. Lee. Those three are making me seem like some crazy prank queen!" I held my head in my hands.

"The story sounds pretty awesome, everyone is talking about you today..." Dean mused as he ate some chicken.

"I don't like the feeling of knowing that," I gestured my head over to the Ravenclaw table where a group of people were whispering and glancing over in my direction every couple of seconds, "there are multiple groups in this room currently talking about me."

"I'm jealous of your new found fame if it counts." Seamus reassured and I grinned.

"Better be jealous, Irish boy!" This resulted in a tiny nudge fight between us – I won, of course.

I noticed Snape wasn't at the table and I groaned in annoyance.

"What now?" Seamus asked.

"Snape isn't here. That means..." Yep, neither were the Weasley twins. "Oh god... if the Weasley twins arrive, be warned." I should've been excited but considering I was under the limelight... this was just going to cause more talk.

"They just arrived." Dean said looking up from his food – seriously, he's been eating this whole time.

"Wait for it..."

Professor Snape walked in, covered head to toe in some weird liquid, looking as angry as ever and as he walked in? You guessed it. Darth Vader's theme song blared out from invisible speakers around the room. This caused Snape to look absolutely _livid_.

Dumbledore began to speak before anyone could speak though as he turned off the music – probably for good. "Quiet down, everyone. I would like to see Mr. Fred and George Weasley, Mr. Lee Jordan and Miss Faye Lupin after dinner, Please." He sat back down and I put my head on the table and groaned once everyone began to whisper/talk again. My dad was _so_ going to lecture me later – or was he? Yep. He was.

The rest of dinner went by with Fred, George and Lee trying to get my attention but I ignored them. I know it was harsh but they got me in trouble, _again!_ It's not even been a week at school! I did catch my dad's eye halfway through desert and he grinned at me so I guess I wasn't going to be in _that_ much trouble... I hope.

The feast ended and I bid goodbye to Seamus and Dean at the stairs and began walking to Dumbledore's office. I hope I find it, wouldn't want to get in even more-

"HI, LUPIN!" Fred shouted behind me as he put an arm around my shoulder.

"I can't BELIEVE you guys! Where on EARTH did you get the idea I wanted to be in the limelight!" I shouted causing the trio to laugh. Great, my threat didn't sound angry enough.

"Don't worry, Lupin." Fred began.

"It's all part of our plan to get you to become the most talked about student at Hogwarts!" George ended.

I resisted the urge to face palm. "So after all this time, you think everyone is just going to become buddies with me?" I asked sarcastically and they all nodded grinning.

"I don't understand you guys..." I muttered.

"Oh, you're going the wrong way to Dumbledore's office by the way, just thought we'd point it out!" Lee said and I glared at him.

"If I follow you guys, you promise not to take us to a bloody cellar or something?" I asked and Fred looked solemn.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good." I looked for the map but it wasn't anywhere in sight. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"You serious?" I asked.

"If Fred says it like that, he is." George said.

"Alright, lead the way!" I smiled weakly.

"Finally! We're already late! Not that we mind..."

3 minutes later, we were outside his office trying to remember the password.

"He should really leave the password under one of these portraits or something..." I muttered.

"Sherbet Lemon?" Lee asked the griffin staircase and it began to twirl.

"Glad you could remember it, Lee!" Fred said clapping Lee's back as he began to ascend the stairs as soon as they stopped twirling with George and Lee right behind him.

"You coming, Lupin?" Lee asked stopping at the bottom of the stairs.

"Kinda have to, don't I?" I weakly smiled and followed the guys up the staircase. I entered the room to see my dad, Dumbledore and Snape standing behind the desk.

"Hey guys, you wished to see us, professor?" Fred asked innocently.

"Sit down, you four." Dumbledore said as he conjured four chairs in front of his desk.

My dad grinned at me, I instantly felt less worried about our punishment – we already had detentions with McGonagall... whenever they were.

"Now I'm sure you know just why I called you up here. Your repeated the same prank from this morning, I believe." Dumbledore sounded serious but you could see in his eyes, he found this highly amusing. Well I'm glad we amuse you Professor.

"It gave the desired effect so now it won't happen again, professor." George said. Psh. As if.

"I hope so, too. Professor Lupin will decide your punishment and inform you tomorrow. You may leave, now." He smiled at us all and I resisted the urge to celebrate. My dad would hopefully give us a lesson on defending ourselves which he loves to do anyways.

We all left again and once we were out of hearing distance the guys cheered.

"Punishment with your dad! THAT'S BLOODY BRILLIANT!" Fred and George cheered.

"Maybe he'll teach us a bonus lesson?" Lee mused and we grinned.

"Bloody hell, I'm so jealous of your dad." George said and I laughed.

"Try having to face a boggart when you're 8 because your dad thinks you can handle it!"

"Wicked." Fred and George said simultaneously. It is most certainly not, I'll have you know...

When we arrived at the common room, I said goodbye to the guys and quickly snuck up to my room away from prying eyes. Thankfully, only Hermione was there.

"I told you that prank was a bad idea." Hermione said without looking up from her book. Creep or what? She was like a James bond villain.

"I forgot they were going to do it again..." I trailed off as I sat down on my bed which just so happened to be next to hers.

"What did professor Dumbledore want?" She asked.

"To 'tell us off'." I grinned. "Got ourselves a detention with my dad. No biggie."

Hermione looked up from her book and looked at me. "You shouldn't use this as an excuse to break the rules. Dumbledore is probably letting you off easy because it's your first time."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Don't worry, Hermione, I know what I'm doing. My plan is to try and stay out of the limelight from now on." I nodded as if trying to convince myself the words I had just said.

"I'm sure it isn't that bad..." Hermione mused as she went back to reading her book.

"Maybe I should just stay up here for the rest of my life – never to see the outside world again!" I lay down on my bed dramatically as I finished.

"Don't be a drama queen; we already have one in our room." I didn't stop myself from laughing at that.

"True... Maybe I should get tutored by her?" Hermione shook her head at my suggestion.

"That's a bad idea, if I've ever heard one."

Did she... understand sarcasm? I inwardly facepalmed and smiled at her.

"Don't worry, I won't."

* * *

**So it's been a while (for me) since I posted a chapter on this story and anyone who has alerted/favourited this story, you spurred me on! :D **

**Hopefully I will bring myself to post the next chapter next week sometime... :)**

_**REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**_

**Fred: Does she ever shut up?**

**George: Think it's impossible.**

**Lee: Will she ever talk to us again if we put a temporary silencing spell on her...?**

**Me: -.- Fine, I'll shut up... REVIEW!  
**

**Lee: _SILENCIO!_**


	5. Detention, Dogs and Pain au chocolats

The next day at breakfast, Professor McGonagall handed me a detention slip informing me to come to her classroom at 8:00pm sharp. So after the feast had finished I bid goodbye to Seamus, Dean and Neville and walked to her classroom. This time I wasn't interrupted halfway on my journey by the twins and Lee and I was left standing outside McGonagall's classroom looking extremely lonely.

"Early much, Lupin?" I heard from down the corridor. I turned around to the source of the voice to see Fred grinning as he walked up to me with George and Lee just behind him.

"Didn't have anything better to do..." I trailed off. This wasn't true. I had a potions essay waiting for me back in the common room which I'm hoping Seamus and Dean had put their heads together with Neville's to create an alright essay that I could copy- I mean, look at.

"Well we certainly did, right George?"

"Yep. Filch is in for a surprise when he next goes to his beloved broom closet!" George grinned and high-fived Fred and Lee while I groaned.

"Can't you guys just..."

"Stay out of trouble?" Fred finished?

"For at least a day?" George added.

"Heck a week would be great!" I said smirking before I could stop myself.

"That's simply not how we roll though, dear, Faye." Fred said sympathetically as he slung an arm around my shoulders. I rolled my eyes at this.

It was weird to think that the last two years combined I only ever really talked to them on rare occasions making up to a total of a chat once a month at least. This year it had only been 4 days and I have already been given an increased status for pulling a prank with these guys and chatted with them 2 days in a row. Strange how things change.

"If you four have finished being utter idiots, would you please stop gossiping and enter the classroom?" McGonagall spoke behind us making me jump while the rest of them just turned around and grinned.

"Minnie! Lovely to see you again!" George greeted and walked inside with the rest of us following behind.

Professor McGonagall simply brushed off the comment. "It's professor McGonagall to you, Mr. Weasley. Now you know why you're here and I've arranged for you to come here instead of help filch with the trophies only because I believe the prank you pulled was mildly amusing." She said this all with a straight face.

The guys seemed unfazed by this. I got the feeling they often had detentions with pretty much every teacher in the school. Well I guess I'm about to lose my detention virginity.

"Mr. Weasley and Mr. Jordan." She looked at Fred and Lee as she said this. "You two will help me with cleaning my office. _Without_ your wands." She held out her hand for their wands, which they gave with a grin still plastered on her face.

"Whatever you want, Minnie!" Fred laughed as he and Lee walked up the stairs at the back of the room to Professor McGonagall's office.

"You two will make sure the classroom is completely tidy by the time I get back. Miss Lupin, I expect you to keep an eye on Mr. Weasley here." And without saying another word she quickly walked away, to make sure Fred and Lee hadn't destroyed her office probably.

"She hasn't taken _our_ wands." A voice said next to my ear and I jumped a mile slapping the face of George. By the time I took in what I had just done I gasped.

"I am _so_ sorry! I... I didn't mean to!" Oh god he was going to hex me or prank me into oblivion wasn't he? _I just slapped George Weasley._

To my surprise (though I really shouldn't have been) he just grinned. "Quite a hit you got there, Lupin! I'm impressed."

I felt a blush coming on so I tried to change the subject but came out with, "You shouldn't have caught me off guard like that!"

George was about to reply with probably a witty remark when a crash was heard from McGonagall's office. "SORRY, MINNIE!" Fred called after.

"Why did McGonagall give us a job that's already been done? Unless you count that rubbish in the corner..." I silently levitated it and placed it in the bin.

"Did you just do silent magic?"

"What?" I asked.

"You. Just did. Silent magic." George stated.

"Yes. I did. Well done! Gold star for you!" I mocked.

"That's impossible..." He breathed.

"Hardly. Hermione was able to do so after 5 months of being here, she showed me how to do it then."

"Bloody genius, Hermione is..." George said still looking dazed at the spell. Honestly, I've seen people less shocked at the fact that Hermione, Harry and Ron had defeated a troll 2 years ago!

"Get over it, Weasley. I can teach you if you want?" I offered wondering how I was going to do so.

"Go ahead." George grinned and got out his wand.

"Right... _Accio Paper._" I summoned the paper I had just put in the waste bin and placed it on the desk next to the one I sat down on.

"Just think of the _wingardium leviosa_ charm as you point your wand at it and imagine the movement in your mind – If that makes sense." It didn't really make sense to me if I'm honest.

George tilted his head at me grinning and did as I instructed. After a few seconds the paper rolled off the desk.

"That's a start..." I levitated it back on the table and George frowned.

"I will do this. It will certainly freak out Fred or Lee if I wanted to prank them..." George's eyes glazed over probably thinking of a prank that was beginning to form in his mind. I facepalmed.

"George! Concentrate!" I nudged his arm breaking him from his reverie.

"Uh – right – yeah... Okay..."

George went back into the stance he was originally in and attempted the spell again. The paper hovered in the air for a second before falling again. I felt a pang of jealousy at George's clear talent at charms. It must've taken me two weeks to master this spell let alone _2 tries._

"I did it!" George cheered and I couldn't help but cheer along with him laughing.

"Can you make it last longer than 2 seconds though?" I challenged.

"Of course!" George grinned and performed the spell making it float for a total of 10 seconds.

I clapped my hands. "Well done, George! You have now mastered the easiest spell to do silently! Hey we should have a competition..." I walked over to the bin and ruffled inside it looking for some more paper.

"Uh... Faye, why are you looking in a bin?" George asked bluntly.

"For this!" I held up a piece of scrunched up paper similar to George's. "We are going to have a bumper car style fight using paper." I stated as I walked back over.

George looked confused to say the least.

"Uh... Let me explain." I said seeing George's confused face. "Basically, we make these float and we try to knock each other's ball of paper out of the air first."

Realisation crossed George's eyes. "Oh! You should have just said that!" He grinned at me and chanted his paper to go into the air. I did the same.

"ATTACK!" George yelled and he sent his ball of paper colliding into mine. I grinned and cast a second spell to subtly weaken George's paper and knocked back into his. The spell worked because as soon as they collided, Georges was sent spiralling across the room.

"Oh it's on." George stated as he brought his back to constantly pummel my own. I rolled my eyes. I had played this game plenty with Seamus and Dean to know how to win. Of course, Dean was a much harder opponent than Seamus since he actually _thought_ about tactics while Seamus just tried to knock out my paper. I was going to have to propose a game of this soon to those guys.

I put up a subtle shield charm so that my paper wouldn't get harmed and lazily made my paper attack George's again. This time it flew right against McGonagall's office door. I gulped and quickly grabbed my piece of paper and made my way to the bin.

"What are you _doing_, Mr. Weasley?" McGonagall shouted as I saw her door open. "Miss Lupin is trying to tidy up this room and all I can hear is you shouting and now you're attempting to break down my door?"

Woops.

"It's not what you think, Professor!" George exclaimed and I suddenly felt bad.

"Professor?" I interjected as she opened her mouth to speak. She looked at me questioningly.

"It was my fault, Professor. I threw some paper at him and he was simply defending himself in the way he does with a bludger at Quidditch." I simply love my lying skills. I really do. I added innocently blinking eyes for good measure.

George didn't show any shock at my statement but I saw gratitude in his eyes – or was I just imagining it? Probably was...

"Well... Don't do it again, Miss Lupin." She threw George another glare before going back to supervise Fred and Lee closing the door behind her. I smiled to myself.

"You continue to surprise me, Lupin. You really do..." George grinned at me. "Round 2?"

One hour later and George was_ still_ oblivious to my cheating spells I threw at his ball of paper which he had called Bart. Merlin knows why. I had called my own Geoffrey and even drew a smiley face on him. Geoffrey was totally better than Bart.

When we saw the door to McGonagall's office open, we quickly threw the paper into the bin.

Lee and Fred bounded out then with gleeful faces. "Hey guys!"

McGonagall stepped out her office too. "Off you go then, No need for you to hang around more than you need to. I hope I don't have to give you another detention." She crossed her arms and the guys saluted and walked out. I followed but not before seeing McGonagall smile to herself. I bloody love McGonagall, I really do.

The next week went by in a big blur, it was surprisingly easy to get used to the stares that began to follow me wherever I went. Thankfully the whispers died down after a few days and it was mostly back to normal - If you don't include the fact that when eating, if I wasn't with my usual friends, Fred, George and Lee would sit around me. I decided I liked this development of being included into their little group but I felt slightly awkward some days but I never showed my awkwardness. George never told them about his newly learnt talent and for some reason I began to feel glad he didn't. Was that bad? I mean, what if they were really talented too and managed in two tries? I would feel really stupid then!

One morning I woke up to see the sun just about rising in the sky. I smiled and got ready for the day. I felt like walking to the black lake so that's what I did.

As I sat down cross-legged at the lakes edge, I began to contemplate recent events that had officially changed my life. Since I had pulled a prank to humiliate Snape, I had gained a higher status than before and more people began to acknowledge me. Hermione and I were speaking slightly more than we used to and she didn't annoy me like she used to – especially when she was trying to teach me silent spells in 1st year. I could see why Ron got annoyed at her so easily in that charms lesson we had which lead to a crying Hermione. Past aside, my dad had also begun teaching at Hogwarts which may have also contributed to my higher status since he's a 'pretty awesome' teacher which I've heard him be described as.

As I thought about all this I heard a grunt nearby and turned to see a shaggy black dog stare at me. Huh. Didn't know dogs could actually walk around here? Mind you, I've seen rabbits so I'm pretty sure this dog isn't a stray from Hogsmeade - Or is it?

The dog stared at me again and I noticed something. The eyes had a human feel to them. They were also grey – do dogs have grey eyes? Pretty special dog! I considered beckoning the dog over but it was already walking over to me.

"Hey there, little guy! You better not be a run-away or I'll feel extremely sad for your owners. Mind you, that theory is probably the worst theory for a dog being at Hogwarts, Okay, just ignore me." The dog had reached me now and nudged my hand for me to stroke it which I obliged.

"You know... You remind me of someone..." I wasn't sure if it was my imagination or not but I felt the dog stiffen at the statement but I shrugged it off. The dog couldn't understand me! Unless it had a hippogriff brain which I doubted. Did the dog look like a hippogriff? What if it was a secret agent Hippogriff spy! No, Faye. Hippogriffs aren't spies.

"Wonder where you came from, if you came through the forest, I'll be amazed. And respect you even more! I mean, there are acromantulas in there..." I shuddered at the thought. The dog returned to looking blankly at me again.

"Hey I think I have some..." I reached into my pocket for something for the dog to eat and sure enough there was a few owl treats I kept on my person at all times. "Here. You like owl treats? They're all I've got, sorry." I held them out for the dog in my other hand and the dogs eyes lit up and happily munched on them.

"You're a strange dog, you know that?" I grinned at the dog as he finished eating the treats. "My dad used to have an owl that used to like dog treats though when he was in school apparently. His friends always used to try and turn his owl into a dog. Not sure if that is true but he _was_ friends with James Potter and Sirius Black..." I mused wondering what they must've been like. "Sirius Black escaped the prisoner of Azkaban recently! First guy to do so too, as much as a legend that makes him, I'm slightly worried for him, ya' know?" I stroked the dog again as he rested his head on my lap in what must've been a comforting way.

"My dad doesn't like to talk about him anymore, which kinda sucks. He sounded like a pretty awesome guy especially when I found out he defied his family by becoming a Gryffindor. I wish I could meet him... but he's probably in hiding right now which sucks." I swear the dog shook with laughter then. This dog was strange.

"If you ever see him, tell him I was looking for him, eh?" I said half-heartedly. "He's a dog animagus so I'm pretty sure he'd understand you – Oh you would not believe how grateful my dad sounds when he talks about when his friends became Animagi." I should really stop talking about my dad and his friends to random dogs.

"They used to go to the shrieking shack with my dad every full moon. It's under that Whomping willow." I gestured over to the Whomping Willow ahead which was innocently swaying in the breeze. "Don't let its innocence fool you; it can smash up a car in seconds if it feels it is being attacked." I smiled at the memory. Everyone was talking about Ron's flying car incident with Harry for days.

I sighed. "You understand me, dog." I swear the dog laughed again. "So... You come here often?" The dog lifted its head to look at me. "I mean, will you be staying here long? Can I tempt you with food?" The dog tilted its head at me. "If you're round here at this time tomorrow I'll bring you some pumpkin cakes...?" I offered and the dog nudged my hand again to stroke it.

"I'll take it as a yes then. If not then at least I have something to eat out here!" The dog suddenly flinched and sat up and stared at something in the distance before running away. "I should've known you'd leave me soon." I mumbled smiling. I felt the area around me get colder suddenly and looked in the direction the dog had previously been looking at to see a dementors heading this way. Better leave. Quickly.

You'd think since my dad was the new DADA teacher that he would've taught me how to defend myself growing up which he did but when it came to dementors? I only knew that the spell was _Expecto Patronum_ and needed a happy memory. Should I ask my dad on help with the spell? Probably should, shouldn't I?

I ran back to the castle. Literally. I must've looked like an idiot if anyone was watching since I am probably the least fit in the school when it comes to exercise. As I closed the door to the castle behind me I stopped to take a breath. It took me five minutes at least before my breath was normal again.

I heard chatter from the great hall so decided that it must now be at least 7:00am I walked into the great hall and spotted hardly anyone at the Gryffindor table. Turns out the chatter were from a bunch of Ravenclaws. I spotted, however, Hermione, Ron and Harry sitting together in the middle. I had a quick mental argument. Should I sit with them and face awkwardness? Or should I sit alone and look like the definition of a loner and bring a concerned talk from my dad who is currently talking to Professor McGonagall about something? Gah. Decisions are horrible. I decided to take the first option.

"Hey, Hermione!" I said as I neared them causing all three pairs of eyes to stare at me. "Don't suppose you did the potions essay?" If in doubt, start up a homework conversation.

"Of course, I did. Do you want to borrow it?" Hermione asked and I nodded. This lead to two glares at Hermione from Harry and Ron – well, mainly Ron.

"So you let _her_ borrow your homework but not us?" Ron glared.

"For your information, _Faye_ is my friend and she won't just copy it like you would, _Ronald_." Hermione and Ron began a glare down. Harry stared at me sympathetically.

"Do you want to sit down?" Harry asked. Since Ron and Hermione were sitting next to each other on the other side, Harry was sitting by himself on the other side which I was currently standing on.

"Yeah, sure." I smiled as I sat down.

"Your dad is a really great teacher, you know." Harry said clearly trying to start a conversation with me no matter how awkwardly he tried. He was probably making a better attempt than me though...

Achievement: Talked to Harry Potter!

"Thanks, but you should just tell him that rather than me. He'll think I'm joking if I tell him." I grinned.

"Compared to Lockhart and Quirrell he's actually teaching stuff worthwhile! Not to mention he actually lets us do practical work." Harry mused and I nodded as I grabbed some bacon from the middle of the table.

"I'll actually laugh if he tries to teach us about Hinkypunks!" Harry looked confused. Oh Merlin, don't talk about them, don't talk about them...

"They're these one legged creatures that I like to think resemble Filch because they always carry lanterns with them."Harry smiled. Damn, I talked about them.

"Hope they're as interesting as you're making them sound, Faye." Harry took some bacon from the middle of the table also.

"What's this about Hinkypinks?" Ron asked and I smirked.

"Hinkypunks. Not Hinkypinks – that's just stupid." To be honest the name was stupid either way.

"Whatever." Ron grumbled as he stuffed some food in his mouth.

"Don't mind him," Hermione said rolling her eyes disgustedly, "He's rude all the time."

"I've noticed..." I stared at Ron as I said this just to get a reaction out of him. It didn't work – damn.

"So... what lessons have we got tod-" Harry was interrupted by my dad then.

"Faye! Hope you're looking forward to detention later..." My dad grinned at me and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm warning you now, the guys get distracted easily."

"I doubt they'll get distracted with what we're going to be doing. Defensive spell practise and all."

My eyes widened. "Seriously? You would do that! I didn't think you'd be allowed." I grinned.

"Anyways, must be off, got a lesson to prepare for the 7th years. Bye everyone!" He left. Gee, Love you too, dad.

"You're dad is bloody awesome." Ron stated staring after him.

"I know! I don't know what I'd do without him." I smiled fondly after my dad too.

"Defensive spells?" Hermione exclaimed and I shrugged.

"My dad is big on defence, hence why he is the _defence_ against dark arts, Hermione!" I said patronisingly even though I hoped she wouldn't take it the wrong way.

"I doubt you'll actually get anywhere with it in one detention." Hermione shrugged as she bit into a pain au chocolat. I widened my eyes at the food.

"Where are the pain au chocolat's?" I demanded. I had a weakness for chocolate. I guess you could blame my dad for that.

"Behind the bacon." Ron said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Thanks." I grabbed two and stood up. "I better get my stuff for the lessons today, see you guys around!"

I waved and walked away but not before I heard Ron say, "She's weird."

Gee. Thanks, Ron. Never would've realised that myself!

* * *

**I really need to remember to add a side note on these to annoy you guys :P I was going to wait till next week to post this but I figured since I've got a dreadful cold and nothing else to do, why not post some more of this story? I know you guys 'love' it. **

**Who am I kidding xD I personally love it and I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU GUYS THINK!  
**

**Seamus: Are you even going to ask to review?  
Dean: I thought it was customary to do so.  
Me: Fine... .**

**REVIEW GUYS. REVIEW. I LIKE REVIEWS. THEY MAKE ME HAPPY. PLUS THEY'LL MAKE ME FEEL BETTER! Who knows, reviews are the cure for horrible colds? :D**


	6. Hogsmeade, Hags and Hallowe'en

The only highlight of the lessons that day were care of magical creatures which is weird since after our first lesson we had begun to study flobberworms instead. Whoop.

I was with Neville, Seamus and Dean and well... ours was a female and gave birth. We – well I – decided to call the newly born flobberworms twins Joshua and Jordan. I even made them both leaf hats! Their mother Jackie looked so proud...

Then one died.

That's right. Joshua died. We decided to bury him so the rest of the lesson was spent telling stories ('fond memories') of Joshua the Flobberworm with the rest of the class staring weirdly or coming over to laugh with us at the stories. I bet you can guess which houses did what.

Apart from that, though? The day was dull. Potions involved theory so no practical _whatsoever_. I couldn't even try and compete with Dean to make the best potion!

"Fancy a game of dodgem paper?" Seamus asked breaking my little reverie thing I had going on. So he can think of a good name but I can't? Unfair.

"Sure, but you're getting the paper!" I smirked as he rolled his eyes but went to get it from his dormitory. That's right. Revenge for thinking up a good name for MY GAME. As soon as he was gone he was back.

"Damn, I was hoping you'd take longer!" I grinned as he hit me playfully. Dean looked up from the chess game he was playing with Neville and snorted.

"Right. I've got four pieces, you guys wanna play?" Seamus asked Neville and Dean and they shook their heads.

"I'm almost winning! I can feel it!" Dean announced.

"Well... I just want to try and win..." Neville shrugged as he took one of Deans pieces causing him to pout. Whenever guys pout it's strange. I should make a petition for it to be banned, there's bound to be some Ministry of Magic person mean enough to make stupid laws...

"Okay then," Seamus turned to face me, "Faye. I'm so going to win."

"Yes, like you do every single time!" I replied sarcastically.

"Oh it's _on._"

I was suddenly reminded of George saying that just a few weeks ago during our detention... No, Faye, it won't happen again. Be realistic, Faye.

"I WIN!" Seamus shouted and I stared at him in horror.

"I WAS NOT WATCHING." Neville jumped at my voice causing the chess board to shudder and knock off the pieces. Dean sighed in defeat.

"Well maybe you should've been watching." Seamus smirked.

"Well maybe you should've been a gentleman and waited for me to start." I retorted.

"I'm as much of a gentleman as you are a lady."

"Wanna bet?" I said not really sure how I was going to prove it without having to remove my top. Oh, Merlin, why did I want to prove my femininity?

"I'm good." Thank, Merlin.

"Fine." I lifted my paper and whacked it at his head with my wand. Hard.

"HEY!"

"That's what you get for not being a gentleman..." I taunted. And for having a daydream during a game...

"Hmmph, hey aren't you meant to be at a detention with your _dad_?"

My eyes widened. I was going to be 20 minutes late if I left now.

"Fudge." I waved goodbye and ran out the portrait ignoring the stares I probably got for running like a maniac.

It took me one minute of fast running to get to the DADA room – proud of that! I breathed out heavily. Oh boy, do I need to exercise or what? I should take up running around the lake but... no-one does that. Why? Oh that's right it's a _huge lake_. Faye, you have terrible ideas about exercise.

I gulped down one last breath of huge air as my breathing returned to normal and knocked on the door and opened it.

"Sorry I'm late I completely forgot! Then when I realised I ran all the way... here..." I exclaimed as I walked in taking in the scene in front of me.

Fred was piggybacking George while he attempted to attack Lee with attack spells with my dad cheering them on.

"Uh..." I said lost for words. This seemed to snap them out of their frozen state – did I forget to mention that?

"Faye! Finally made it! Was beginning to wonder where you were!" My dad walked over grinning. "Just teaching this lot to defend themselves," He leaned down and stage whispered, "They're not doing very well!"

I smirked at the prankster's faces and watch George fall to the ground as Fred stood up in 'anger'. "We're doing amazing! George and I have 10 points over Lee!" I noticed a score board behind them, he was right, they were winning.

"I kinda regret missing out on some of this 'detention' now..." I muttered and my dad just laughed.

"Why don't you partner up with Lee and try and defeat these guys?"

I stared at Lee. Did this mean he was going to give me a _Piggyback_? Lee looked at my shocked expression and grinned. "C'mon, Lupin, hop on my back!" He made a big deal of leaning over for me to hop on.

Well, it would be rude to not accept...

Once I had hopped on, Lee exclaimed, "Bloody hell, you're so light!"

"Psh. As if!" I retorted.

"On the count of three, hit each other with your best spells. And by each other I mean Fred and Faye."

I'M NOT PREPARED TO HIT ANOTHER WEASLEY.

Okay... I can do this... I'll just stick with _petrificus totalus,_ Fred frozen shall be an amusing sight. Oh, and no harm will be done.

"3..." My dad began the countdown. What if George see's his brother frozen and thinks he's dead?

"2..." He'll never forgive me.

"1!" Merlin, will you?

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Fred yelled at the same time I yelled 'PETRIFICUS TOTALUS.'

I was left without a wand and George was left trying to keep a statue-state Fred on his shoulders. Easy to see who won, really.

"Well, I guess that's one way to win, 20 points for you guys then!" My dad walked past the still status of Fred and added my name to Lee's team and added 20 points.

"WE'RE WINNING!" Lee let me down and we hugged in celebration.

"PROFESSOR. MY BROTHER IS FROZEN." George shouted grunting under Fred's weight. Neither, Lee or I moved to help him still celebrating.

"Who beat the Weasley twins?"

"WE DID!" This led to a high-fiving session.

"Alright, alright," My dad waved his wand and Fred came back to life.

"THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR. I DEMAND A REMATCH!" Fred shouted jumping down from George's shoulders and marching over.

"Chill out, Fred! Just 'because she can actually win against you!" Lee defended me smirking.

Fred pouted – third time I've seen a guy pout today, jeez, where's that crazy person I asked for? "Fine, fine..."

"Alright everyone, that's enough for one night – detention is over." My dad stated.

"But, this is fun! Way more than Minnie's detentions, you should be honoured!" George argued.

"I am. But I wouldn't go round telling Professor _McGonagall_ that. I know I wouldn't – she's your head of house after all."

"Whatever you say, Professor! See you bright and early for our lesson tomorrow!" Fred saluted to him in a similar fashion to McGonagall a few nights ago and walked out with George and Lee following in similar fashion. I paused.

"Nice defence skills there! Clearly from my expertise." My dad smiled at me and I shook my head.

"Despite how you like to think it was you, it was Hermione who mostly teaches me these things."

My dad gave a shock look of hurt. "I'm hurt!" Of course you are...

"You still taught me what to look out for and the best spells though so I guess I can thank you for my brilliant spell casting." I tilted my head.

"Well, I accept you're 'apology' now run along, you may still be able to catch up with those three boys..." My dad grinned as he finished the sentence and I rolled my eyes at his suggestion.

"Talk to you soon, Dad!" I hugged him and walked out.

The guys were nowhere to be seen.

You think this would make me become aware of my surroundings more – you know, be on lookout and all but I had only one thought in mind. _FOOD_. Sure I had eaten food only an hour ago but I sure love food.

Thankfully the kitchens are only one floor down so I got there pretty quick.

"Hey guys!" I greeted the house elves as I entered and they all said hi back as always. I love these guys.

Harvey ran up to me with Dobby and they both smiled. "Usual for the mistress?" Dobby asked.

Harvey whispered to him, "She doesn't like that!"

They both looked at me with wide eyes – old habits die hard with elves, I guess.

"It's Faye to you lot and yes please!" They both ran off to come back 5 seconds later with a tray. I eyed it suspiciously.

"Since when did you guys start pre-preparing the usual?"

"It was Dobby's idea, Faye!"

"Yeah, I thought, Mist-Faye would like it quicker..." He fiddled with his fabric that covered him nervously.

"But I like waiting down here! Gives me time to avoid people I'm not in the mood to talking to!" I grinned and the two elves visibly relaxed. Hey, I should make an elf shelter for lonely elves. There would be a water park and a zoo and a... ok, I'm getting ahead of myself.

"Now who would you want to be avoiding on such a fine evening?" I heard from behind me. I jumped and slapped the person to realise I had just done the _same thing_ as I did in McGonagall's detention. I have slapped George Weasley on the face, _twice_.

Fred whistled close behind him, "That _is_ quite a slap you've got there, Lupin!"

"Never seen anyone slap Georgie-boy before now..." Lee mused grinning. "You offering those around, Faye?" He asked gesturing to the millionaire shortbread I had taken from Harvey and Dobby who were standing wide eyed at the event. George was just holding his cheek in a shocked manner but grinning again. I relaxed. He wasn't going to kill me. Good.

"Maybe..." I trailed off as I took a bite from one.

"Don't mind if I do, Lupin!" Fred smiled wolfishly as he took one off the plate and I glared.

"Ever going to be a gentleman in your life, Fred?"

"I am a perfect gentleman but you're not exactly a lady either!" What is it with guys questioning my ladylike personality! I am the perfect example of a lady thank you very much! She says as she shoves food in her mouth...

"Whatever you say, Fred." I murmured as I finished off my shortbread. There were now only 3 left on the plate.

"Alright. Lee, George, take one." I held out the plate in front of them and they grinned simultaneously and grabbed the two I had offered them.

This left a final one on the plate. I saw Fred eyeing in the corner of my eye and saw him flinch his hand ever so slightly. I quickly placed the plate on a nearby table to avoid any damage.

I swear what happened next was in slow motion. I was waiting for his hand to move towards the plate and when it did, I grabbed it and twisted it away. This was all happening as I took a bite from the last shortbread in a 'relaxed' manner.

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?" Fred and George asked simultaneously while Lee just breathed out an awed "Wicked..."

I shrugged. "I saw you hand flinch. It's not rocket science." I gave the now empty plate back to Harvey who grinned and ran away again with Dobby trailing behind.

I'm amazed at my relaxed manner. In my head I am practically doing the craziest dance moves I can think of. I beat Fred Weasley! – Oh Merlin, that sounds wrong – or does it? Never say it again, Faye.

Fred pouted at me.

... I think I should make a spell that stops guys from pouting. It really isn't nice. Besides, this crazy law making person isn't turning up anytime soon.

"Pout all you want, you still lost - to a girl at that!" I taunted him.

The notice to the Hogsmeade weekend was posted to the notice board a few weeks later and it was hard not to be excited. My first trip to Hogsmeade!

"HOGSMEADE!" I yelled launching myself at Dean since he was the closest person I could yell at without giving me a strange look. Course... everyone else did. Especially Ron and Hermione who had managed to commandeer the armchairs by the fire.

"CALM DOWN!" Dean yelled back in the same matter but even I knew he was excited. We didn't often raise our voices in excitement.

"What are you guys shouting about?" Seamus asked as he walked down the stairs with his hair sticking up in a mad array.

"How mad your hair looks?" I said even though it came out more as a question.

"Shut up," Seamus mumbled frantically patting it down again, "I just woke up!"

"Course you did, Seamus!" I patted his shoulder in a mockingly sympathetic way

He glared at me but it soon turned into a lop sided grin. "So, the Hogsmeade trip is soon, eh?"

Dean nodded, "I want to finally see all the shops everyone talks about!"

"I know! There's Zonkos... that's the first place we should start..." I began planning the trip with Seamus and Dean. Oh this was going to be great!

The next few weeks leading up to Hogsmeade, I only heard about Hogsmeade, literally. The worst part was when I was in the girls' dormitory and all I could hear was Lavender and Parvati discussing what sort of clothes they were going to wear, what sort of clothes shops there were in Hogsmeade and ... anything to do with clothes really.

Halloween morning finally came around and as usual I was the first person in the common room unable to sit still. It was half 6. I know this because I only just came down here and as usual, I had looked at Hermione's watch which you probably didn't need to know – sorry.

I looked out the window and I felt a sudden pang of guilt. I had completely forgotten about that dog! It's been weeks! I went back to my dormitory and grabbed a pumpkin pasty that was on Lavender's side table – she's always complaining about her weight anyway. Seriously, she's only 14.

I speed walked out the grounds and sat down by the lake again. I wondered if I should call the dog but I had no way of doing so. Merlin, I feel guilty. Really guilty and I hardly knew the dog! Did the dog even remember me? Why am I feeling so guilty about a dog who probably didn't understand what I was saying in the first place? I really need to get a life. Hey maybe there's a crazy person who gives awesome lives to people for free? Yeah, Faye, she lives right next door to the crazy law making person.

I heard a slight 'woof' behind me and I turned around grinning. Then I figured the dog needed an apology. "I'm so sorry! I have no excuse. I'm a terrible person. BUT! I brought you a pumpkin pasty to make up for it?" It seemed like a good apology because the dog stuck out it's tongue as it ran over to me and ate the pasty whole. Why I thought the dog actually needed an apology is anyone's guess.

"You sure have an appetite. That's all I have though... unless you really want some owl treats?" The dog stared at me with those puppy dog eyes that they have a talent for... which makes sense now that I think about it.

I took out some owl treats and gave them to him. He also swallowed them whole but looked satisfied.

"Friends?" I asked, even though this dog lacks speech. To my surprise it barked then lay down beside me with his head on my lap looking up at me. I took this queue to begin my boring life commentary like last time.

"I stole the pumpkin pasty from a really irritating girl in my dormitory. You wouldn't like her. It's not like she would've eaten it anyway – I bet she forgot she left it there so don't worry, I'm not going to get detention or anything like that." I grinned. "There's a Hogsmeade trip today! Then there's the feast... I am so excited! I mean, sure, I'm spending the day with two guys who just want to spend it at Zonkos but I'll manage to drag them to Honeydukes and maybe have a glimpse of the shrieking shack! I may tell them the rumours my dad used to hear about that place... back when he had a monthly trip there. I really want to go exploring there one day... You ever been there?" I looked at the dog which just tilted its head at me. "No? Me neither as you probably guessed."

I looked up at the castle then at the sky which the sun had definitely risen completely. "Look, my shaggy friend, I need to go if I actually want to get some breakfast before I go to Hogsmeade! Now I want to make sure I meet you here tomorrow sooo... I solemnly swear I will meet you at this lake tomorrow morning unless something serious happens to me or another person at Hogwarts." I held up my hand and everything.

The dog let out a sigh but stood up as I did. I petted its head. "See you around, Rory ! Oh that's a good nickname, that's your nickname, hope you don't mind. It's better than something weird like snuffles!" I grinned and patted his head again before walking back to the castle. As I reached the steps I looked back and Rory was nowhere to be seen. I like that dog. The only strange thing about him is his eerily accurate reactions to my words...

I walked into the great hall to see it practically full with people excitedly talking about Hogsmeade. I quickly found my way to where Seamus and Dean were sitting and grabbed _pancakes_ from the middle. PANCAKES.

"If I'd known there were pancakes I would've come down sooner..." I mumbled as I poured various sauces on the pancakes. This seemed like a really bad meal for breakfast.

"Yeah, where were you?" Dean asked from next to me.

"Patrolling the grounds for any Nargles." I replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I need to talk to Luna soon... I haven't talked to her that much besides the odd greeting every now and then. First the dog and now Luna... I'm doing terrible!

Thankfully the guys didn't see my inner guilt thoughts and just rolled their eyes. "Course you were..." Seamus said in a sarcastic voice.

I mock glared. "You can't talk. I bet you've gone searching for leprechauns before!"

"Touché" He returned.

"Awkward when I wasn't actually looking for Nargles." I smiled victoriously.

"Damn. You win." Seamus (hopefully) mock-glared at me.

"Ok, ok, no fighting!" Dean said through a mouthful of food so it sounded more like a big mumble of words so he may have said something entirely different. This caused me and Seamus to laugh at him.

"Unfair." Dean stated after he swallowed his food and we had stopped laughing.

"C'mon, people are leaving! I do _not_ want to waste time away from Hogsmeade." I stated as I stood up, dragging a helpless Dean with me to outside where everyone going to Hogsmeade had gathered.

"Wait for me!" Seamus shouted running after us.

We-well I since I was dragging Dean – didn't wait for him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Filch sneered down at Dean, Seamus and I as we halted to a stop in front of him. He glared at us suspiciously not even looking at his long list of names as he checked our names off it. Once we were past Filch we breathed a sigh of relief. We had never been fans of Filch and I doubt we ever would be.

Can you imagine if people suddenly started following his every move like a bunch of fan girls to bands?

Mental note: Suggest this to Fred, George and Lee. That is if I ever talk to them again. It seems our short friendship died out to the simple greetings once again. Although they did help me be a little more confident.

"Guys. Guys."

"What?" Seamus sighed.

"WE'RE GOING TO HOGSMEADE!"

"How are you so excited?" Dean asked in wonder as we walked down the path to Hogsmeade.

"Because it's an awesome place. Duh. Can't we go to Honeydukes first? I feel really bad that Harry can't come..."

"If only he hadn't already told Professor McGonagall... He could've gotten away with a forged permission slip from me!" Dean mused.

"Oh well, I'm sure he's bound to find a way here anyways, it's not exactly hard is it?" I reasoned, more to myself than to them.

"Right..." Seamus said not quite seeing my point.

The journey to Hogsmeade was quicker than we thought and soon we had stepped foot in HOGSMEADE!

"OH MY GOD IT LOOKS SO COOL!"

My sudden outburst made Dean jump making me laugh. "Sorry, it just looks so-"

"Cool. Yes we heard you, Faye!" Seamus grinned.

"Shush you, can we _please_ go to Honeydukes first?" I pulled a replica of the puppy dogs I had seen on Shagmeister this morning.

"Fine" Seamus sighed as he trudged over to the practically glowing shop. Once we stepped inside I heard Seamus take a deep intake of breath. "Ok, it smells really nice, I'll give you that."

Dean just shook his head and walked past us both to admire a display of enchanted chocolate skeletons being made to dance.

I gasped. "SO COOL!" Seamus just groaned at my excitement and dragged me to a display of acid pops.

"Harry will like them right? Let's buy them."

"Seamus..." I shook my head smiling, "Oh, Seamus... One does not simply buy the first sweet found as a present."

"How about this?" Dean asked popping up randomly from behind one of the many shelves of sweets. He was holding up a rather large box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. I grinned.

"Now _that_ is a good present."

Seamus rolled his eyes as Dean joined us. "Look, it even says there could be a chance of the rare chicken bean! Huh... I would've thought that would be pretty common."

"Weird..." I agreed.

"Guys. Let's just pay and go to Zonkos. How much is it?" Seamus fidgeted.

"Err... Seamus, why don't you want to stay here?" Dean asked concerned.

"Yeah, it's bloody brilliant here!" I took the rather ignorant approach since I don't bode well with sympathy. Just ask my dad – whenever he was feeling angry about something I would just hug him awkwardly and then offer to make pancakes. He did the same to me. I guess it's how we cope with emotion.

"I had a bad experience in a sweet shop as a kid alright!" He huffed, crossing his arms as he did so.

"... Okay then. Well it's 6 galleons so we can split it – 2 galleons each." I said as I peered at the huge box of beans that Dean was having trouble to hold.

"That's a bargain!" Dean exclaimed.

"You must be a good bargain hunter... I'll keep that in mind next time we go in a really expensive shop!" I grinned and helped him bring it to the till which thankfully had no-one at. Seamus shuffled along behind us with 2 galleons in his hand.

We paid for the sweets and the man at the till helped us make it lighter by putting it in an enchanted bag to make it the weight of a pillow. Dean took the bag and we high-fived.

The man at the till grinned somewhat evilly at us as we paid for the beans but maybe that was my imagination running wild.

Seamus practically ran out of there and Dean and I were stuck having to run after him. We found him not far from the shop taking huge breaths.

"C'mon, tell us what happened in a sweet shop then?" I dragged him to a coincidently nearby bench and plonked him down on it. Dean and I sat either side of him.

"You'll laugh." Seamus muttered but he took a deep breath and began the story before we could protest that we 'wouldn't laugh'.

"Me mam took me to Diagon Alley on my 7th birthday for the first time. We went into that Sugarplums sweet shop and since my birthday's right after Hallowe'en, the decorations were still up. Then one of the workers was dressed as a banshee and just jumped in front of me and screamed. I err... wet my pants a little..." Seamus scratched his neck nervously.

Dean and I shared a look behind him and managed to stop our laughter which was battling to come out.

"If it helps, I did the same thing at a football match once..." Dean mused.

"Hey, You didn't have a defence teacher as a father!" I let out a small giggle and that set us all off into loud laughter that caused a nearby 6th year couple to stare at us strangely and walk away.

"Why would you still be scared of going into a sweet shop still though?" Dean ventured to ask.

"I keep thinking a Banshee will attack me. It's where my fear of them came from y'know."

I nodded thoughtfully. "Right." I stood up in a businesslike fashion. "We will get you over your fear of sweet shops. Your fear of Banshees may never be cured but sweets?"

"Yeah!" Dean stood up in a similar fashion. "We'll protect you if you want?"

Seamus shook his head grinning, "As much as I'd love to, I'd much rather go to the shrieking shack!"

"Well let's do that then. It's not haunted anyways!"

Dean and Seamus both gave me a doubtful look. I held my hands up in innocence. "Fine, fine, If you want it to be haunted, it is."

"That was brilliant!"

"Did you see his face?"

"He so deserved it, the arrogant prat!"

During our journey to the Shrieking shack, we had spotted Malfoy and his goons standing in the viewing spot for the shack. Malfoy was telling some story about how his father had cursed the ghost living in the shack so that it could never escape. Dean, Seamus and I had all rolled our eyes at this from our hiding spot in the bushes. We then got the simultaneous idea to throw sticks at him with magic. We had a fun five minutes just chucking sticks from random places at the Slytherins who all shrieked and ran for their lives.

"We should randomly throw sticks at him at Hogwarts; he'll maybe develop a phobia of sticks!" I rubbed my hands together evilly as a plan formed in my mind while Seamus and Dean chuckled.

"How about once a month, we make time to throw a stick at him somehow?" Dean suggested.

"Deal. Shake on it?" I asked and we did a three-way handshake.

"Best. Day. Ever" I sighed contently as we made our way back to the castle after a long day going from shop to shop.

"We still have the feast to look forward to!" Seamus grinned and my eyes widened.

"I almost forgot about that! Oh this day got even better."

"Typical." Dean muttered shaking his head.

"Problem, Dean?" I asked.

"You and Ron should have a 'who gets more excited about food' contest! I swear food rules your life!" Dean laughed and I pouted. Yes, my friends, pouted – I'VE FALLEN TO THE CURSE OF THE POUT. Okay, crazy law making lady doesn't need to arrive anymore, the plague has overtaken the leader of the resistance squad.

"No fair." I pushed him lightly enough for him to nearly fall over. I'm kidding, that was my strongest push – I'm not very strong.

"C'mon, no fighting guys! We've already battled one idiot today!"

Dean and I mock-glared at him. "Are you saying we're idiots?" Dean asked.

"No..."

"Right... Well have fun trying to sleep tonight!" Dean grinned and Seamus groaned and just punched him in the arm.

"Psh. You're such a hypocrite." I grinned at him and Seamus held his hands up in surrender.

"Just defending myself for the possible murder Dean may do on me later!"

"I didn't say I'd murder you! If I wanted that I would just drag you into the forbidden forest!" I glared at Dean. "That is only metaphorically speaking of course... I have not even thought about murdering you because you're my best friend?" Dean made up for his minor death threat albeit badly.

I suddenly thought of something. "Guys, when are we going to give Harry this box?" I gestured to the box that Dean was carrying.

"Probably after the feast, when we're in the dormitory" Dean replied.

"But I won't get to see his reaction then..." I whined as we walked through the big oak door that made the entrance for Hogwarts. Seriously, it's the biggest door I have ever seen in my life. _Ever._

"He's hardly one for big dramatic reactions – unlike you at times." Seamus smirked as I gaped at him.

"Yeah, he'll just be all 'thanks guys...' and then probably go to sleep." Dean added in.

Thankfully, we didn't have to hang around the common room long before we could go back down to the feast which was _amazing_.

The next hour or so was spent just having a plain good time, Dean and I teamed up to freak out Seamus. Then Seamus teamed up with Neville to scare me but... it didn't work as well thankfully.

I waved to my dad as everyone left the hall and for once, nothing bad had happened in a day.

... I thought that too soon didn't I? We arrived to the common room but we couldn't get in.

"Uh... what's happened?" Seamus asked questioning the obvious.

"Gee, I don't know... The fat lady got drunk?" I suggested sarcastically.

"Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick." I heard Percy Weasley order somewhere near the front of the crowd that was getting bigger and bigger by the moment.

Suddenly Professor Dumbledore appeared and everyone moved out of the way for him and quickly resumed their places after he moved through so I had no chance of seeing what had happened.

"I hope it's not a repeat of last year..." I muttered to myself but Seamus heard me.

"Don't worry, they stopped it remember?" I smiled half-heartedly as his attempt to sound optimistic.

"I suppose..." I trailed off as Professors Snape, McGonagall and my _dad_ were making their way through the crowd also. "What are they doing here? Oh Merlin, it really is a repeat of last year..."

"Guys! Don't worry! It's not as bad as it looks! Well... Depends how you read the situation-"

"What happened, Dean!" I demanded in a way I probably shouldn't have but hey, I was panicking.

"Someone's slashed the fat lady's portrait. Someone reckons it's Sirius Black."

I let out a low whistle.

"You'll be lucky!" Was suddenly heard from above the crowd. It was Peeves.

Everyone quietened down to listen to Professor Dumbledore. "What do you mean, Peeves?"

Now everyone was deathly silent to hear the answer. Strange to think that Peeve's finally had an audience. "Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful, poor thing." He didn't sound very sympathetic. What could make her scared like that though?

"Did she say who did it?"

More silence followed this question. "Oh yes, Professorhead, He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see." Trust him to take ages to tell the answer... "Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."

Oh dear.

**Sirius Black has entered the castle! Do you think Faye will figure out who that mysterious dog is? Will she get into anymore detentions?**

**Fred: Please be quiet.**

**George: Forever would be nice.**

**... Fine, REVIEW GUYS! :D That is if you're actually reading this. Hmm, strange...**


	7. Time to face the truth

We were all sent back to the Great Hall and soon the other houses joined us and it seemed we were to have a giant sleepover in there. Seriously, there were purple sleeping bags all over the hall.

"He could've flown in," Dean Thomas mused as everyone discussed the big question of how Sirius Black actually managed to get into Hogwarts.

"Maybe he made a deal with the House Elves?" I joked half-heartedly. I really didn't want to think of what could happen if he managed to get in again. It would mean we would all be sent home again and as much as I love my dad, I've gotten used to not having to move around so much. Besides, I can just pop to his office for a chat when I want within reason.

Speaking of moving around... when was the next full moon? Surely it would be soon. How was he going to cover his wolf days in a school full of magic? If only I could talk to him right now...

Seamus, Dean, Neville and I each grabbed a sleeping bag and dragged them to a quieter corner of the hall near to Harry, Ron and Hermione who had taken the best spot of all. Lucky them.

"The lights are going out now! I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!" Percy shouted across the hall. The candles all went out and it was much darker than it was a second ago. But the noise didn't disappear; everyone was still talking.

"I hope they find him." I heard Dean say by my head. Dean, Seamus, Neville and I had positioned our sleeping bags in a sort of star shape so that no-one complained (mainly Percy) if we were trying to speak to a further away person and that we could talk easier.

"I doubt it, if he can get in, he can get out." Seamus pointed out.

I heard Neville groan. No Gryffindor courage for Neville it seems...

"Well, instead of worrying over someone who can't harm us in here, why not tell me if any of you guys snore?" I decided to change the subject before it got harsh against Sirius Black. I still think he's innocent somehow.

"Seamus does." Dean immediately said.

"I do not! That's Neville!"

"I don't snore!"

"Maybe it was Ron then..." Dean mused.

"I do not snore!" was heard a little distance away from Ron which caused us all to laugh slightly.

"No talking!" Percy had stormed over and since he was in his 'I'm-in-charge' mode, we couldn't really argue with him.

We waited till he walked away again and we returned to our conversation until we all gradually fell asleep looking up at the night sky – well not the actual night sky just the enchanted ceiling that constantly looked like the outside sky.

The next few days I made sure to keep meeting Rory at the lake. It was uncanny how he was always waiting but I didn't argue. I told him about my life and ... pretty much everything actually. I even told him my theories about how Sirius Black got into the castle, each getting crazier by the minute. It was nice to have a friend who couldn't judge you by speech. Besides, Rory was a good listener.

The next week, I decided to go and find Luna. Since I felt as guilty about not talking to her as I did about a dog but that was all good now.

It didn't take long to find Luna. I found her with the invisible animals she called Threstrals feeding them raw meat. How she got it, I don't know, but it was a strange sight to see the meat disappear by itself as it was eaten. This is how she proved to me they existed the first time she showed me them.

"Hello, Freya." Luna said in her misty sort of voice without even turning around.

"Hey! How are the Threstrals?" I asked looking around at the seemingly empty area. Knowing there were creatures there is extremely unnerving.

"They're doing fine. One of them just had a baby so there's a small one right over there." She pointed over to the lake where the water was rippling slightly.

"Are the baby ones cute?" I asked still watching the water curiously.

"It depends how you look at them. How are you adjusting to not being in the shadows anymore?"

"Um... Alright, I guess." It kind of shocked me how quickly she changed the subject. "It's kinda died down a bit now so unless the twins and Lee drag me into another prank everyone will forget it soon enough."

"I don't think it will get forgotten" Luna smiled knowingly. Sometimes it's as if she's a psychic. A creepy psychic at that.

I know it seems as if our conversation is awkward but really we're both enjoying the silence around each other. It's nice to just come here and forget that we both have lives to return to that involves prejudice – especially for Luna.

"I hope Sirius Black got out ok." Luna said suddenly after a prolonged silence.

I stared at her in surprise. "You think he's innocent too?"

"He doesn't look like a man who could commit a murder. Let alone a whole street. I think Peter Pettigrew is still alive and he was the one who did it."

I was speechless. "That's a much better theory than mine..."

"What was yours?"

"That Sirius didn't do it?" It sounded more like a question than a theory though.

"I wonder how he got in..." Luna started stroking the thin air which I assumed was a Threstral.

I decided to tell her what I knew since she wouldn't tell anyone. "Well, I have a theory..." I began. "You see, Sirius was part of a group of friends who called themselves the marauders and they were all animagus' and Sirius could turn into a dog."

"Was your dad part of the Marauders?"

... "Yes, he was." I croaked out. I don't know why my voice sounded croaky but it did. Maybe because it was a secret that I felt I couldn't tell anyone.

"That makes sense. He did seem to have a bit of an animalistic aura around him when I first saw him." Luna stated.

"Is it really that obvious?" I grinned half-heartedly.

"Not really, but if you know what you're looking for, it's plain to see – like nargles."

I nodded in agreement. "So do you think Sirius got in via his dog form?"

"I believe so, how else would he be able to walk past the dementors undetected?"

"You won't tell anyone will you? I don't think it will do him any favours if someone else hears this."

"I promise. You know, I think I saw him around earlier walking around the Whomping Willow."

"What?!"

"In his dog form of course. I thought the dog seemed a bit strange." Trust Luna to know when a dog is acting strange.

"Wait... oh Merlin." It suddenly dawned on me. The dog I had given the nickname, Rory could be Sirius Black! AND I TOLD HIM PRACTICALLY MY WHOLE LIFE.

"Is everything ok?" Luna asked looking at me concerned. I must be looking quite bewildered. I had just found out I had poured out my whole life to Sirius Black. Hmm... this must be how Ginny felt last year. Maybe I should talk to her about this one day if Sirius Black's name is ever cleared. We could make a 'wrong thing to talk to' anonymous group! I shall make badges and posters and- I'm rambling. Great way to deal with stress though, maybe I should tell Hermione this for exam- "Freya?" Luna interrupted my thoughts

"I-I gotta go, sorry, Luna!" Then I ran. All the way back to my dormitory. Ignoring any looks that came my way for my heavy breathing and exhausted running technique.

Course I could hardly breathe when I got to my destination. Thankfully no-one was around to see me collapse very unladylike onto my bed. I really need to stop running. It doesn't do me any favours at all. I hope I never have to run away from anyone otherwise I'll never win. Hey, I should run around the- Faye. We've gone over this idea. The lake is too big to run around.

I heard the door open and close. "Freya?" It was Hermione. She was one of the few to call me Freya when I looked like I wasn't in the right state of mind. I still wish more people called me Freya but hey-ho you don't choose your nicknames.

"Mmm?" I answered half-heartedly into my pillow.

"What's wrong?" I heard a book (It's the only thing Hermione carries around if you really think I'm being psychic for once) being placed onto what I assumed was her side table. She must've come up here to read. "I saw you run up here." Oh... Not to read then.

I smiled into the pillow rather insanely. If she had seen, I'm pretty sure she would run. "Oh nothing much!" It sounded more like 'mmf mmf!' Though.

"Excuse me?" Hermione asked most likely confused.

I sighed and sat up. "What I'm saying is: I am fine, Just found out something unbelievable but ... kinda cool now I've thought about it?" I'm a terrible person. It's not cool. I've been discussing my life with a criminal.

Hermione frowned. A typical thinking pose for Hermione often seen in the classrooms. "What is it?"

"That's the funny part, I can't tell you!" I paused for a second, "Mind you... You'll probably figure it out anyways," I shrugged.

"Maybe," Hermione sat on her bed, "Do you mind if I finish my homework up here? It's a bit rowdy down there."

Realisation dawned on me. "Did I just run through the common room full of people?!"

"Yes, you did. In fact, it did make people wonder what made you run and well... the stories began getting out of hang by the time I left to check on you."

"Great... What better way to end the weekend than by having some good old stories be made up about me?"

Hermione smiled in what I assumed was sympathetic. I'm not used to getting the face of sympathy often so I didn't really know what it looked like. "You could always just go down there and say you got attacked by Peeves?"

I grinned, "Brilliant idea! Thanks Hermione!" And I left the dormitory to straighten out whatever stories were being made about me.

"So Peeves tried attacking you with a paint gun?!" Lee Jordan exclaimed. Turns out the entire common room wanted to hear my story and I was glad to. Otherwise everyone would've been thinking I had encountered Sirius Black in the hallways and was traumatised for life. Actually, that rumour isn't too strange come to think of it.

"Yep. Just about managed to dodge all the paint but the same doesn't go for the corridor... Hope Filch doesn't blame me!" He wouldn't. Mainly because there isn't even a paint covered corridor!

"If he does, we'll sort him out for you!" Fred grinned with George and I rolled my eyes.

"Sure..."

After this, most people returned to their own conversations, having had their gossip needs fed for the evening, at least.

I noticed Dean, Seamus and Neville weren't down here so I didn't exactly have anyone to go talk to. I was considering just going back up to the dormitory and reading the monster book of monsters. A book I had now finished and read two times just to cure my boredom in the early mornings. However, it seemed that the pranking trio still liked me enough for me to join their group. This group also involved Angelina Johnson (that girl was known for her temper), Katie Bell (She was probably one of the more sincere of the group but she also had a big temper when she wanted to) and Alicia Spinnet (a girl I only ever saw on the Quidditch pitch for some reason). These three were the chasers on the Quidditch team. This made me feel entirely awkward for two reasons. 1) I have never bothered to play Quidditch or learn the rules but I go to the games to look normal. 2) Everyone in this group played Quidditch (minus Lee but he commentated it so it counts, alright?)

"Faye! Why not join us instead of standing like a lemon in the middle of the common room?" Fred bounded over and grabbed my arm before I could say anything otherwise. He dragged me to sit between him and George on the sofa and if I'm honest I felt like a deer in headlights.

Angelina, Lee, Katie and Alicia were sitting on various chairs encircling the sofa so I was practically trapped if I looked at the situation like the antisocial awkward kid that likes to appear inside of me every now and then.

"Faye, meet Angelina, Alicia and Katie!" Fred introduced the smiling people a bit too overdramatically that I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Guys, meet Faye!" George in turn dramatically introduced me and I felt the oh so familiar burn in my cheeks. Great first impression, Faye.

"It's nice to finally meet you!" Angelina smiled warmly at me and I smiled back awkwardly.

"Now the introductions are out of the way, has anyone seen the dog that is roaming the grounds at the moment?" Fred changed the subject expertly but to a subject that was I was still coming to terms with myself. My eyes widened before I could stop them.

"What?" Fred asked looking at my expression.

Oh, Merlin, what should I say? Keep it simple, Faye, keep it simple. "He bit me." Success! A vaguely believable story!

"It bit you?!" Katie exclaimed. "When?"

"Today actually..." I trailed off. Hey finding out he's Sirius Black is _just_ as shocking as a bite. "I ran away after that."

"You ran away because of it?" Alicia asked joining into the conversation.

"It growled." I was sounding convincing. Well I hope I was.

"I see..." Fred nodded in a mock seriousness. I decided to ignore him.

"Yeah, if you ever see a dog, run away. That's what I've learnt." I nodded determinedly.

"We'll keep that in mind when we next go looking for the dog, shall we Lee?" George asked.

"Of course! Maybe he just doesn't like you?"

"He growled at Luna?"

"Maybe it's only girls he hates..."

"Don't be sexist, Fred!" Angelina scolded Fred.

"Just theorising why the dog is evil in Faye's eyes!" Fred said 'innocently'. I say 'innocently' because he was holding up his hands in surrender but his face was grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"Of course you were." Angelina rolled her eyes.

The evening continued like that. With someone starting a new topic and it always ending on Angelina scolding Fred on something rude. Either way, by the end of the evening I felt much less awkward around the three Quidditch girls and also around the guys since I was hanging out with them much more leisurely than in the past where I wasn't helping plan a prank or stuck in detention with them.

The one thing I regret was when Fred thought it would be funny to put a spell on me to make me think I was in love with George. Needless to say once I had control over my body, Fred wasn't lucky to be sitting next to me. I really do overreact to things. Ever since I got a detention, something must've unlocked inside of me – my dramatic side.

Anyways, I punched Fred in the nose and well... enough for it to break. Luckily one of the girls knew a healing spell so Fred wasn't stuck with a broken nose for long. He just grinned at me when it was fixed so I broke it again. Yeah... not my proudest moment, I know. But it seems once you've hit a Weasley twin at least once you get over the whole CRAP-I-HIT-A-WEASLEY-TWIN-I'M-GOING-TO-DIE feeling.

After the second punch, George had to restrain me from hitting his brother but yet again, not my proudest moment because I just kicked him in the crotch. Stop judging me! I don't know where I got all my strength from all of a sudden but I had felt like I could walk the wall of china without breaking a sweat.

This lead to Angelina having to restrain me while the twins recovered. Shortly after we all calmed down I had decided to leave but not before slapping Lee on the way out which a 'BURN!' followed. I said good night to Angelina, Katie and Alicia but not to the guys. Hey, they'll get over it.

It wasn't till I got to the dormitory that I fell to my bed in shame at what I had done. I refound my CRAP-I-HIT-A-WEASLEY-TWIN-I'M-GOING-TO-DIE feeling. I can never face them again.

It wasn't till 5 minutes later that I could bring myself to actually get changed into my pyjamas and brush my teeth. Thankfully I fell asleep as soon as I hit the pillow.

It didn't last though. I woke up again a few hours later at the early time of 5am. Now to deal with Sirius Black...

As I walked down to the grounds I began to feel like vomiting and just running away from civilisation never to be seen again. This is why I wonder why I'm a Gryffindor. Mind you, I'm being a hypocrite then since I believe Neville is brave so why can't I? My dad is the defence against the dark arts for Merlin's sake!

Mind you I _was _talking to a supposed _CRIMINAL_. I had every right to freak out. Sure I strongly believe he's innocent but that doesn't mean I 100% believe he is... What if he kills me with one bite then throws me into the lake never to be found? The squid would be my only friend... Mainly because I shall become a ghost. That's right. I'll become that weirdo ghost of the lake. I shall be called... Moaning Faye! The better ghost next to Myrtle. People will come from miles around to hear my woeful tale of getting killed by Sirius Black and I'll finish by making the giant squid jump through a hoop. It's brilliant! Maybe if I don't die, I should persuade Sirius to kill me anyway just so he can be the first witness to the amazing ranting show featuring the giant squid.

I think I'm going delusional.

Back to the situation at hand...

I saw him in the distance as I always did. He always waited by the lake where we first met. I'm making it sound like we have a forbidden romance going on, aren't I? Just think about the giant squid living in that lake and it isn't so romantic anymore.

"Hey, Rory!" I greeted. I felt like an undercover agent.

Rory – let's call him Sirius shall we? – barked happily in reply. Damn you for being happy.

I sat down next to him and we resumed our usual position where he lay his head on my lap like a loveable dog and I would begin telling my life story. However, today wasn't going to one of those days sadly.

"Um... I know this is going to sound crazy but I might as well say it because we're not going to get anywhere otherwise," I swallowed. Here goes... "Are you Sirius Black?" I flinched waiting for the attack that never came. Instead the dog looked sad and then nodded.

"Well... I guess you really aren't mad like everyone says you are." My voice was still slightly shaky. I was seriously expecting him to change into a massive wolf or something and kill me. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid of wolves at all but knowing my luck that's going to be my death. Let's call it intuition.

The dog – now officially Sirius- stuck out its tongue then stood up and nodded his head towards the Whomping Willow.

"The Whomping Willow?!"

Sirius barked and started walking towards it then paused, turned around and barked at me again. It must be really frustrating being a dog and not being able to speak.

I sighed but began following him to the tree which I had never even thought about going into. Maybe this would be my death? I will scream a terrible scream as I die, waking up the entire Hogsmeade village who think a new ghost has decided to haunt the shack and then I'll be a ghost and- yeah... I'd be a rubbish ghost. I'd probably end up trying to talk to a muggle in my loneliness because I don't get to be a Hogwarts ghost due to my cowardly death.

I really need to work on that. Maybe I could persuade him to let me punch him in the nose or something so it looks like I put up a fight. Never mind, he would just run away before I'm discovered. WHAT IF I'M NEVER DISCOVERED? MY CORPSE WOULD LIE IN THE SHACK FOREVER. Oh Merlin I'm sounding like that wall when Ginny got taken into the chamber of Secrets.

I really am getting delusional. That and I'm determined to be a good ghost.

We had arrived at the tree and I watched as Sirius tapped a knot on the tree that made the tree freeze. He quickly jumped into a convenient hole at the bottom of the tree and I knew if I didn't follow quickly, I would end up being flung into the lake by the tree. Yes I know I'm exaggerating but I'm about to meet a man who was practically an uncle since he was my Dad's friend... hmm, I wonder what my dad would do if he knew what I was doing right now...

Thanks to my daydreaming I had lost where Sirius had gone. I was in a pitch black corridor only small enough to crawl through – typical, just my luck.

Me, being the Muggle that I am, didn't think about using the Lumos spell until _after _crawling through the corridor and being able to see again and stand up. I facepalmed hugely.

Sirius was nowhere to be seen and all that was in front of me were some steps. I tried to walk up them quietly but of course, the Gods seemed to be against me today so each one made the loudest creak you could ever make.

This was all starting to look like a horror movie. The unknowing victim walks through the abandoned shack hoping to find her lost friend only to find out he wants to kill her in the most horrific way possible.

I haven't even watched a horror movie before and I don't plan to. Hey, I never will get the chance to now – actually, Faye, you're becoming a ghost remember? Oh yes, thank you little voice, you're so bloody comforting.

I finally made it up the stairs and I was surprised at the sight in front of me. Instead of a mad Sirius holding a chainsaw revving its engine or something equally as violent, he was sitting on the sofa twiddling his thumbs nervously. _That's what I should be doing not you! _I mentally shouted at him in my mind but of course this was only my mind. I was once again looking like a deer in headlights.

"I suppose you want an explanation, don't you?"

I smiled slightly, "It would be nice!"

**So the famous Sirius Black has revealed himself! How will Faye take the story? Probably better than the golden trio did, mind you it was very dramatic for them.**

**See that button just below saying review? Click on it and write a lovely review why don't you? It seriously does make me feel better when I know people are actually reading this story :)**

**Fred: You heard the lady!  
George: Review! :D**

**Oh stop it, you're making me blush :')**

**(This is what happens when your mind goes into overdrive from extreme tiredness.)**


	8. Werewolves, Curses and Patronuses

"Now where to begin..." Sirius Black mused aloud.

"How about that time you escaped from Azkaban?" I replied sarcastically without meaning to.

Sirius grinned for a moment before returning to a sombre expression. "Alright."

He gestured for me to sit on the sofa beside him and I gingerly did. I noticed my hands were shaking - probably knowing that I'd leave this shack with a completely different outlook on this guy.

"I'm an animagus, as you already know..." Sirius seemed to be... What's that phrase? Oh yes, 'beating around the bush. "In Azkaban, you don't seem to be fed much food so it was only natural that I became quite thin as you can see." I nodded staring at my hands rather than his limp form. "The minister of magic came to visit one day with a newspaper and I noticed the picture of the Weasley's holiday photo - do you remember that issue?" I nodded again. "They had a rat in the picture-"

"Scabbers. He's Ron's pet rat passed down from Percy I think."

"Did you know he has a toe missing?" I felt Sirius staring at my head.

"I noticed once but I didn't think much of it."

"I got put into prison because I supposedly killed Peter Pettigrew. All that was found was a finger, remember?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with Scabbers?"

Sirius sighed. Great, now I must seem stupid.

"Peter Pettigrew lost a finger and can also turn into a rat."

"I'm still not seeing the link." I frowned.

"You haven't inherited your father's intelligence have you,' I looked up at that comment to see him smirking slightly. I frowned at him but let him continue his story. "What I'm trying to say is that Peter Pettigrew is Scabbers."

Well I didn't see that coming.

"Wait. So Pettigrew isn't dead?!" I paled at the thought that this guy I always thought as shady was actually alive and living as a rat with an innocent family.

"I'm afraid not. To make matters worse..." Sirius sighed in a way an adult does before saying some bad news, "He was the one to betray James and Lily Potter."

If a person can resemble paler than a dead person, that was what I was probably looking like right now. I even felt it too.

"That's impossible..." I managed to breathe out not entirely sure how it was possible. For some reason I believed Sirius though.

"It is. I'm sure your father has told you about the time James and Lily went into hiding. The only way to protect them was the _Fidelius_ charm with a secret keeper who could be the only person to see and tell of their location." I noticed Sirius' eyes darkened considerably. "I denied to be the secret keeper, demanding that Peter should be it since it would seem more likely for myself or Remus to be the secret keeper not timid Peter who just followed us around." Sirius was starting to get a bit worked up.

"7 days after the _Fidelius_ charm is cast, Voldemort kills them! That's how I realised it was him. How it all added up. Turns out he had been passing information to Voldemort almost a year before they died." He paused momentarily and the air felt extremely tense.

"I went after him after I saw the house for myself. I accused him of murder and he didn't deny it. Then he had the nerve to cast the curse, killing every muggle currently on the street, casts off his own finger and turns into a rat before running away. I had no chance."

Sirius eyes suddenly turned a shade lighter.

"All I did was laugh at the impossibility of the entire thing. Timid Peter had betrayed us all and I had no proof. They took me away and I let them. I just thought of Harry and you. I knew you were both out there safe and that's all that mattered."

He smiled sombrely at me and I smiled half-heartedly back.

"12 years later and seeing him in the newspaper was it. I knew I had to find him and I would've got him too if the Fat Lady had just let me in."

"So it _was_ you that terrified the fat lady and caused us to have Sir Coddagon as our house entrance..." I mused trying to break the extreme serious tension in the air.

"Is he still trying to set quests?"

"It's almost impossible to get in now," I grinned at a memory of Seamus and I trying to get in one day but Sir Coddagon was determined for us to guess his triumph of the day.

"Sorry."

"It's ok; it can be amusing at times."

"I mean for everything. If only I had just been the secret keeper, everything would've been ok. Harry would still have his parents..."

"You can't change the past, Sirius. You had no idea it was Peter. It's not your fault."

"I try telling myself that sometimes..." Sirius smiled, "How's Moony then?"

He's as subtle as Hagrid when it comes to changing the subject.

"He's alright; the werewolf thing is really dragging him down though. I don't know how he'll manage to become a werewolf AND teach without suspicion..."

"He always knows what to do. That's how James and I managed to get away with a lot of our pranks and keep up with school work!"

"Sometimes he acts like a Ravenclaw rather than a Gryffindor." I smiled. "He's all about tactics isn't he?

"Every time James and I tried to prank Snape, we always tried to get him to help us. He denied most of the time though; something about morality?" Sirius raised an eyebrow and I chuckled.

"I wish this whole thing never happened. That everyone didn't die."

"So do I..." Sirius trailed off and it was silent for a while although this time it wasn't an awkward silence, rather a comfortable one instead.

After about five minutes of this I saw the sun was shining through the window meaning it must be later than I thought. Sirius followed my gaze. "You should probably head back you know."

I sighed. Going back meant facing reality of everything I just heard. Solid proof that Sirius Black - supposed murderer and escapee - was innocent. That and Ron was looking after a murderer.

"Do you want to meet again tomorrow morning? I'd love to hear more about your life."

"You already know everything..." I trailed off feeling the heat rise in my cheeks. Suddenly an idea came into my head.

"Can you teach me the patronus charm?" I blurted out after another minute of silence.

Sirius looked surprised to say the least. "Wouldn't you rather your dad taught you? He is the defence against the dark arts teacher after all."

"I thought about that, but... I can't ask him. I've tried but it just gets caught in my throat instead of coming out, if that makes sense."

Sirius gave a nod of agreement. "Alright, how about every Sunday morning at half 5? I don't want to disrupt your school work."

I grinned, early was perfect!

"Ok. I'll see you next Sunday then!" I stood up to leave and was filled with the overwhelmingly awkward moment of 'how do I say goodbye?'

Sirius chose for me by standing up and ... Shook my hand. I smiled at him then walked out remembering to turn on 'Lumos' this time around.

As soon as I was out of the Whomping willow and out of hitting range, I breathed a huge sigh that had been building up for some time.

I didn't waste time sitting around though, I walked quickly back to the castle to see everyone still at breakfast. I breathed another sigh -of relief this time - and walked in.

I walked over to the opposite side of Seamus and Dean and sat down. I spotted Harry and Ron further down and I couldn't help but shudder slightly.

"What's wrong?" Seamus asked immediately. Too quickly.

"Just a bit cold," I grinned.

"It is a bit cold this morning isn't it? I guess winter is finally arriving." Dean mused. They took the lie, thank Merlin!

"So, Faye..." Seamus began slowly. I raised an eyebrow and stared at him. "Don't suppose you've done the charms homework?"

I rolled my eyes. "It was only two parchments long! How can you not fill up that space?"

"Well we don't listen in class like you do!" Dean joined in and took a bite of some sort of pastry.

"Touché..." They stared at me clearly waiting for the answer even Merlin himself knew I would say, "Fine."

Seamus and Dean then proceeded to high-five in celebration while I did my traditional rolling of the eyes whenever they did.

My eyes now wandered over to the professor table and I saw my dad looking a lot paler than usual. The full moon must be soon. I felt a wave of guilt hit me that I had probably talked more to Sirius than I have to my own dad this entire year including the summer holidays. He looked over and smiled at me. I smiled back and he returned to a conversation with Professor Flitwick.

"Your dad looks a bit pale." A voice said behind me suddenly. I turned around to see Hermione taking a seat next to me rather than Harry and Ron. Great, she's going to interrogate me isn't she?

I said the same thing I always told anyone since I was a toddler, "He always manages to catch the worst colds." Hermione bought it - I think. You can never tell with her since her brain is probably the reincarnation of Sherlock's.

The rest of breakfast went by quickly and soon everyone was going their separate ways to do whatever they wanted on a Sunday morning. Of course, I didn't get that freedom since my homework was now being copied by an eager Seamus and Dean in the common room. As soon as they finished the last sentence I put the homework upstairs and said I was going to see my dad.

I didn't even know what I was going to say to him when I saw him. 'Hey, how's the werewolf thing going for you?' seems a bit tactless.

I arrived outside his classroom and was glad to see he was in his office rather than the classroom. I slowly walked through the room and up the stairs to his office and knocked on the door.

"Come in." I opened the door, "oh hello, Freya," He gestured for me to take a seat in the chair opposite his desk. "What brings you to my humble abode?"

"Um, I'm not sure..." I trailed off taking my time to examine each artefact around the room. Most of them I recognised from our ongoing journey around Britain. I even saw a Hippogriff feather behind a large skull of a creature I didn't recognise. Hey, I've been at Hogwarts for two years!

"If it's about who's going to take your lesson tomorrow, it's Professor Snape."

My mouth dropped open. "Him?! Out of all the teachers you're letting him?!"

"He knows a surprising amount of dark arts and how to defend against them." My dad argued.

"But it's SNAPE."

"Professor Snape to you," He corrected.

I sighed; this was going to go nowhere. I decided to change the subject - sort of.

"So where are you going to go for the full moon?" Oh yes, I am the epitome of subtlety.

"Professor Snape has kindly conducted a potion that allows me to keep my mind while becoming a werewolf. I'll be staying here"

I nodded slowly, silently thanking Snape for the potion, "Aren't people going to notice after you do this for the every month?"

"Possibly. But most will just accept I have an illness not to be questioned. Your friend, Hermione may work it out quicker than everyone else though." My dad stared at the ceiling as he said his theory aloud.

"She commented on your paleness this morning." I mumbled.

"Well, I am!" He held out his arms as if for me to take his appearance in. His eyes looked like he had lost a considerable amount of sleep the night before, his wrinkles were more prominent and his hair a shade greyer.

I smiled half-heartedly. I honestly hated the monster that did this to him. He didn't deserve this amount of stress so often.

"Don't worry about me, Freya, I can look after myself."

"But you shouldn't have to! I should be trying to find a cure for this stupid thing or maybe getting people to respect you instead of running away!" My voice was getting very close to hysterical.

"You're only 13; this sort of responsibility isn't expected from you - let alone your own father!"

"But it isn't fair! You've seen the looks you've been given before! They are filled with such hatred." I shuddered at the thought.

"Come here." He said gesturing for me to come over and hug him as he stood up. I gladly did so realising just how much I needed a hug right now. "Stop worrying. It's not good to be worried at your age about stuff like this! You should be worried about school work not werewolves! Oh look, your crying, here," he wiped a tear from my cheek that I didn't even know was there. I leant on his chest in pure exhaustion - from waking up so early or from the stress of Sirius Black, I had no idea. Maybe it was both.

"What do I always tell you before I leave?"

"That you'll be back soon and I mustn't worry because you're in here." I pointed to my heart.

"That's right, now can you promise not to break down while I'm gone?" He grinned and I couldn't help but grin back.

"Suppose..." I trailed off

"Good! Now did you know your top of the class? Well, just a mark higher than Hermione at the moment."

"Really?! But she spends hours on her homework!"

"She hasn't had a father who is always saying facts about these creatures or taking her on trips to see them, does she?"

"That's true..."

"Now I believe it's time for lunch, would you do the honour of walking with me?"

I shook my head laughing before linking arms with him and walking out of the office with him.

I didn't unlink arms with him until we were outside the great hall and then I hugged him ignoring the stares I got – If I got any that is.

I saw Neville nearby so I sat next to him. "Hi, Neville!" I greeted cheerfully.

"Hello, Freya, how are you?"

"Great!" I honestly felt I could just defeat Voldemort with my happiness. Okay maybe not that great but close enough. "You?"

"I'm ok; I can't do the defence against the dark arts homework though." He frowned probably trying to think of a solution.

"Want me to help you?" I offered and his eyes lit up like a boy on Christmas. Well maybe not that much but it was close! I really need to describe emotions better, don't I?

"That would be great! I just can't understand how a Grindylow can protect their young! It doesn't say it anywhere in my notes."

"Oh that's simple they make a..."  
Another E grade worthy explanation took up the rest of lunch that I had no doubt I was going to have to repeat once he got hold of his essay.

I wondered briefly were Seamus and Dean were but I soon spotted them next to Harry, Ron and Hermione. BETRAYERS! I'm kidding; I doubt they wanted to listen to an explanation on Grindylows anyways.

When Monday came around, after potions, I dreaded DADA for the first time that year. Having Snape as a teacher for the whole day is NOT fun in any way.

Everyone began talking about where my dad was as soon as we walked in and no-one was there. Snape was obviously going to make a dramatic entrance and he did not disappoint. He walked in closing all the blinds with his wand, his cloak billowing behind him and abruptly turned around at the front of class demanding we turn to page 394. I opened the book and felt the colour drain from my face for the second day in a row. Werewolves. We were going to learn about werewolves. I'm pretty my face once again drained of colour and I'm pretty sure Snape smirked at my reaction. I can't really tell because I was avoiding his gaze.

Hermione began arguing with him despite Snape ignoring her. Needless to say she soon got called an 'insufferable know-it-all' but Ron stood up for her which led to him getting a detention.

Oh yes. Having Snape as a teacher is fun. He even kept trying to make me answer every question knowing full well that I knew the answer.

Thankfully the lesson soon passed but we had to write an essay on werewolves which I was really reluctant to write. Hopefully my dad will be back in time for the next lesson and we won't have to do the homework.

Once we had lunch I decided to do the essay since I had nothing else to do and it would be fairly easy. Thankfully no-one was in the dormitory so I could get on with the essay in peace.

I was halfway through when I heard someone come in. One guess for who it was - Hermione, well done!

She smiled at me and then got out a book from her trunk which I noticed was the monster book of monsters and went to the werewolf section. I hate that they're in that book but I can't do anything about it. Even centaurs are in that and I have to say, even though I've never met one, they seem pretty cool. I went back to my own homework. I now had to talk about how to kill werewolves. I couldn't do it. I just kept seeing my own dad getting killed in these various ways in my head.

I can't explain why I did what I did next. I scrunched up my essay then burned it with my wand. Hermione raised an eyebrow at this obviously wondering what I was doing.

"I kept making mistakes." I muttered as I walked out of the room. I had a feeling I had just confirmed what Hermione no doubt was thinking about my dad.

I decided a trip to the kitchens was in order.

"Hello mistress! The usual?" Harvey greeted me and I grinned at his usual name for everyone. "It's Faye remember?" Harvey looked at his feet, "Sorry, Faye, we have had a lot of visitors today!" I nodded.

"Who came to visit?"

"Fred and George Weasley did, Faye. Wanted some snacks."

"I see... Anyways, Yes I would like my usual, please!" Harvey nodded and rushed off again. I wonder where Dobby is...

I took a seat at one of the tables and just lay my head on my arms breathing another sigh. It was times like this that I would send a letter to my dad but I couldn't because he was currently becoming a werewolf. If only I was good at potions...

At least Snape could make a potion that let him keep his mind. Maybe I should learn that potion for future use when Snape isn't around to give it to him... Next stop, the library!

"Your usual, mistress!" Harvey piped up from behind me and I smiled in gratitude.

"If it's not any trouble, could you put these in a bag? I'm sorry, but I need to go to the library," I pulled an apologising face but Harvey was having none of it.

"It would be an honour!" He quickly disappeared with the food then rushed back again with them in a small brown bag. "Here you go, Faye!"

I thanked him again and walked out and took the quickest route to the library. I didn't often go here but when I did, it was usually for something important like a potion that allowed your dad to keep his mind.

I went to the 'P' section of the library ignoring the stare that Madam Pince was giving me. I quickly found various potion books and took them to one of the empty tables. Thankfully there weren't many people in here so I could look through the books without interruption. Not that I had enough friends for that to happen anyway. Oh, I live a highly social life.

After looking through 5 books and having no luck I briefly wondered whether it would be in the restricted section and whether or not it was worth trying to sneak into the restricted section. _Faye, you can't run, I doubt you can sneak around._ Touché brain, touché...

Maybe I should be super nice to Snape and ask him? _Nope._

Maybe I should just so happen to walk into his office when he is brewing it? _Nope, Stalker._

Maybe I should just ask my dad what it's called then work from there? _Well that means waiting for a while... Nope._

I sighed. If only there was a website that could let you search stupid things like 'potion that lets a werewolf keep his mind.'

Wait a minute... My DADA homework is about werewolves... Maybe I can use the excuse that I wanted to see the solutions?

I took a breath of air and walked up to Madam Pince who was staring at me with a raised eyebrow. "Can I help you?"

"I was set homework on werewolves for defence against the dark arts and I was wondering if you had any books on potions for curing lycanthropy?"

She stared at me for a minute probably wondering if my request was genuine and worth her time before she got up and led me to a selection of books in the 'curse' section and handed me a book titled 'Potions for the cursed" by 'Fabien Hert'

I thanked her as she walked back to her desk and I returned to my desk full of potion books, brushing them aside to look through this book instead.

Why didn't I think to look in the curse section? It seems so obvious now...

I looked at the time and noticed it was almost time for the feast. I sighed, so close yet so far...

I put all the books back minus the curse book since I took that one with me back to the dormitory. I placed it under my pillow thankful that Hermione had disappeared somewhere else for the time being so I didn't have to see her calculating gaze.**  
**

The next Saturday was a Quidditch match. Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff and for once I was glad to be in a crowd and forget about everything that happened the last few days Sirius Black being the main thing.

The only bad thing was that it was raining. Scratch that, it was such a storm that the game shouldn't even be on. However, the teachers were allowing it so I guess it was alright (not).

I sat down with the rest of the Gryffindors in my year minus Lavender and Parvarti since they were sitting with Patil and the other Ravenclaws.

The game soon started and I was not having fun like I was expecting to. I was soaked through, frozen and I couldn't even see what was happening. All I could do was strain to hear Lee Jordan's running commentary of the match. Everyone else was in the same situation as me but didn't seem as bothered as I was. Typical!

Dean kept up a running commentary for me instead seeing as I couldn't see nor hear the game and apparently Oliver Wood called for a break so everyone in the stands stood down to regain some warmth. I watched as Hermione ran down the stands wondering what she was doing.

I sent a questioning gaze Ron's way who just mumbled something about glasses. Gee, thanks Ron, I'm so enlightened now!

I quickly stopped the sarcasm though, remembering that he lives with a murderer. Maybe I should 'accidently' give Scabbers to Crookshanks. According to Hermione, it's the only rat he's interested in trying to kill.

I felt everyone cheer and stand up from around me and I joined in, not entirely sure what I was cheering for. Oh... the game had begun again.

A few minutes later and there were shrieks from all over the stadium. I squinted my eyes to see what was going on but saw nothing.

"What's going on?!" I asked Dean. He shrugged along with a lot of other people who had probably been listening to Dean's commentary. It suddenly felt even colder than before and I was filled with an overwhelming sense of sadness. I shuddered. As quickly as it arrived, it left again.

"Did you guys feel that?" Dean asked and I nodded, slightly shaken.

"That felt horrible." Seamus shuddered from the other side of Dean.

"Did you guys see the dementors? Dumbledore's really angry." Hermione said from beside me suddenly. She appeared from nowhere! "Harry almost died because of them! He's being taken to the hospital wing now. Come on, Ron, we need to see if he's ok." They both left as everyone else seemed to gradually leave.

The rest of the day was a bit sombre after that. I decided to finally read the curse book I had taken out of the library. For some reason, every morning, with nothing to do, I still couldn't bring myself to read the book. Instead I opted to reread the monster book of monsters. It was a really good book, ok!

I opened the book and looked at the context for werewolves. 'Page 304' did I mention it was a big book?

I turned to the page and quickly found the solutions part.

'A werewolf cannot be cured. However, some solutions have proved to help the transition from man to wolf easier. For example; a well known solution is the wolfsbane potion (created by Damocles)This potion allows the user to keep their mind intact every full moon meaning no harm comes to the werewolf or anyone nearby.'

Wolfsbane potion... That must be what Professor Snape is making! I eagerly read on for how to make it.

'If the potion is not made correctly, it can have disastrous side-effects on the user. The utmost care should be given when making the complicated potion for this very reason.'

I skimmed through the rest of the article but it had nothing on how to make it or any other successful solutions. The rest of the section talked about medieval beliefs instead.

I sighed, closing the book. Clearly I wasn't going to find anything on wolfsbane in that book. This meant I was going to have to go to the library again but for a wolfsbane potion that I doubted would be in the public section. It would definitely not be in my potions book if it's as complicated as it says it is.

I guess I was just going to have to look for another solution that was a little easier to do.

The next morning I woke up at 4:45am and I took my time getting ready for the day. I was about to have patronus lessons with Sirius Black. _SIRIUS BLACK_. The now innocent man that everyone still thinks is guilty. SIRIUS BLACK!

By the time I was ready it was 5 and I decided I could manage to take half an hour to walk to the Whomping willow. I didn't want to seem eager but I didn't want to be late either.

I was soon out on the grounds quicker than I wanted to be. I decided to just risk it and look like an eager student. Better early than late, I guess. I walked silently through the small corridor with the Lumos spell on (I don't think I'll ever forget to do so now.) and up the stairs to see a strange sight before me. Sirius Black was currently writing on a chalk board with chalk. He didn't have the same outfit as a professor would since he only had his prisoner clothes... I should probably steal something of my dad's for him. Actually, maybe not - he has hardly anything as it is. Maybe the elves have something!

"Ah! You've arrived!" I was startled out of my reverie by a very eager Sirius.

"Do you like the chalk board? I thought it made a nice touch for the lesson. If I'm going to teach you, I'm going to make sure I'm the best teacher you ever had!"

He was acting nothing like last Sunday. He reminded me of when he was in dog form sticking out his tongue at me. I decided it was best not to question where he got a chalk board into the shrieking shack.

"Now I figured the best way to teach this spell is to just try it. Do you know how to make a patronus charm?"

I shook my head slowly. It never really occurred to me to look it up. Sirius grinned; he had clearly been hoping to show off his knowledge.

"To perform the Patronus charm, one is to think of the happiest memory they can think of and let it fill their entire body and they are to say the words '_Expecto Patronum!_'"

"That's easier said than done." I stated.

"I'll show you," Sirius then proceeded to close his eyes then utter the words "Expecto Patronum." As he did so a burst of white light left his wand taking the form of the same shaggy dog as his animagus form. It chased his tail for a bit before disappearing again.

I stared in awe. "That's so cool!"

"It's one of the harder spells to master, though." Sirius grinned obviously proud to show off.

"What's your memory?" I asked, "- If it's ok ask," I didn't want to sound rude... besides, I was curious.

"I think of the time when you and Harry had just been born, Lily and James hadn't gone into hiding, and it seemed like everything was going to be ok..." Sirius trailed off looking glassy eyed for a moment before snapping back to reality.

"Now, can you think of a happy memory so powerful you can't help but smile?"

I frowned. This was clearly going to be the hard part. "I don't know..."

"Take a moment. Close your eyes and think of every happy moment you've ever had."

I did as he said and thought back through my life. One that stuck out to me was when I had first become friends with Seamus and Dean. I had been really scared and didn't know what to do and they just made conversation with me as if we had all known each other our whole lives.

That's just a nice memory though isn't it? It's not a happy memory that could help defeat the dementors.

I thought back to when I was 5 and my dad began telling me about his school years reluctantly. I remembered how his face smiled more than it had in a while.

That's another nice memory.

_What about when you hit Draco with a stick?_ My brain asked me and I mentally grinned.

Now THAT'S a happy memory. But is it a strong happy memory?

I opened my eyes. "Does getting revenge on someone sound like a really happy memory?"

"Depends on how happy you feel when you think of the memory." Sirius replied as he began to write his name in fancy writing on the board _'Professor Sirius Black_.'

I sighed and sat down. "It's no use; I have loads of good memories but none that I think are extremely happy!"

"You must have one! Don't you have one of just hanging out with some friends and having a generally good time?"

"Yes but not like your one."

"What about with your dad?"

"I have some good ones but ..." I began to think of when my dad finally found me in the well and lifted me out with the Leviosa Charm and how happy I felt. 'I wasn't going to die.' was my main thought. And when my dad hugged me tight saying "I shouldn't sneak off like that" and I felt truly loved. Not that I didn't feel loved before.

"I have one." I stated confidently.

"Brilliant! Let's give it a go, shall we?"

**I took a while writing this, sorry x) I have so much homework! Then I procrastinate... Then I do homework for five minutes, then I procrastinate and the cycle begins again! :D **

**Yes I know I'm terrible but it can't be helped.**

**Review, you lovely people! :)**


	9. Full Moons, Christmas and Owls

The next few Saturdays continued in the same fashion. Every time I would only manage a feeble white light while Sirius tried in vain to show me how to do it. I tried many different memories but none of them manage to capture the true meaning of a truly happy memory for some reason. It kind of made me a bit sad but I was determined to find the right memory!

The next Hogsmeade trip soon arrived and practically everyone was going to get Christmas gifts for family and friends, me included. I had made a short list so as to avoid any crowds and was also going alone since Seamus, Dean, Neville and I had agreed it was easier. We were, however, to meet in the three broomsticks around 3pm so that gave me plenty of time to find everything I needed.

The first stop on my list was Honeydukes which was probably filled with over half the Hogwarts students if not more - I wish I was exaggerating.

I mustered all my courage and pushed into the shop. It was warm inside, toasty even; I ambled through all the seventh years that were taking up the front of the shop and began making my way to an aisle. This took a while.

Once I got there, there was the challenge of actually finding some sweets without rudely pushing people out of the way to get them as many people seemed to be doing what I was doing. I internally sighed in frustration - normally I loved to Christmas shop but this shop really did test my Christmas cheer.

As quickly as I could I found sweets for Dean, Seamus, Neville, Luna, Hermione, Ron and Harry. I know it's not very great but everyone loves sweets right? I even made sure to get a sweet that matched each person. For example, I found a really cool unique sweet for Luna while I found an orange sweet for Ron. I didn't even recognise half the names on the packets.

Thankfully, the service was quick and it took ten minutes of waiting before I got served (for a full shop, this was probably quite good). I couldn't help but inhale the spacious air once I left the shop but I did miss the warmth Honeydukes had. Into the next shop I go...

The next place on my list was Zonkos - an equally full shop with probably the other half of Hogwarts milling around. Brilliant.

"Lupin! Fancy seeing you in here!" A voice shouted from nearby. It wasn't long before the familiar faces of Fred, Lee and George popped up in front of her and dragged her over to the new items.

"Now this is the place to start. If you want to be ahead of the game, this is where you need to be!" George told me as if this was a lesson. I rolled my eyes but soon let my eyes wander over the various products for sale.

There was certainly a variety; I swear I could even see a hand in a jar. A large box stood out to me the most - seriously, it was glowing.

"What's that?" I asked interrupting a lecturing George who I had tuned out. His eyes lit up, "THAT, is the ultimate prank box."

"100 dung bombs," Lee grinned.

"100 filibuster fireworks," Fred added

"And many other surprise pranking items lie in wait inside!" George finished. I nodded thoughtfully.

"Have you guys got one?"

"Afraid not, Lupin," Fred sighed,

"We already spent on our money on presents for the family!" George added.

"You know how big OUR family is!" I couldn't help but agree with the twins.

"Yeah, and my family insist on thought put into the presents which also means a hefty price tag..." Lee trailed off as he stared longingly at the box.

"Shame," I had an idea, "have you guys finished your Christmas shopping already?!"

"Nope! Just one more stop to go!"

"Well, you might as well get it over and done with, otherwise you'll be moping over all the stuff you can't buy!"

"Alright," Fred agreed. I had a small victory in my head.

"Yeah, TO HONEYDUKES!" George roared and I jumped in surprise. The trio laughed and patted my head patronisingly as they walked out of the shop. Well that was easier that I thought it would be.

I picked up the box (surprisingly lighter than I thought it would be) and took it to the counter with an slightly smaller waiting line that Honeydukes. At least I didn't have to look too hard for something the infamous pranking trio hadn't already got. I was glad that the cashier put it into a bag that made it look like I had brought a small item rather than a crate.

With my friends' presents out of the way, it was time to look for something for Sirius. Clothes.

I walked down the street to Gladrags which had hardly anyone inside and I thanked Merlin. I don't think I could handle pushing through a honeyduke-esque full shop.

I had never been inside Gladrags but it was certainly huge - and categorised. There was even a section for socks of every kind. I saw a pair that looked like the ocean and was just sock shaped water with fishes in. I picked them up deciding I might as well get a full outfit. I picked up a few other pair of socks too in the sale before heading to the men's trouser section. Sirius looked to be my Dad's height so I found a pair fairly cheap and moved onto the shirt apartment quickly finding some basic shirts. I got a few strange looks from a man nearby. JUDGE ALL YOU WANT MR.

Turns out there was an offer that if you had more than 8 items the price is 20% off. Merlin must be supporting my help Sirius campaign.

That or I was having an extremely lucky day. Either way I was prepared to spend a lot on Sirius anyways since he'd been in _Azkaban_ for the last _12 years._

My dad was the next person to get a present for and I was glad he was so easy to buy for - chocolate!

I realised I was going to have to go into the crowded Honeydukes again - thankfully it wasn't too bad this time around and it just resembled a busy shop.

My dad liked the plain simple chocolate the best - 'nothing beats originality!' He would say whenever he ate one.

I thanked Merlin once again that it was fairly easy to find the chocolate and that it wasn't too expensive. Seriously, maybe the gods were having a competition for 'who can make Faye's day.' Either way I wasn't complaining.

I noticed the time was almost 1pm. Time sure did fly buy when you're shopping it seems!

Seamus, Dean, Neville and I spent the rest of the afternoon in the three broomsticks discussing our gifts for our families and any other seasonal topic. All in all, a good day for me!

~*~*~

Professor McGonagall came around one breakfast to take down the names of anyone staying for Christmas. I was staying by default. I had talked to my dad about this one day and he said it was simpler to just stay here than to leave to come back again.

Unfortunately for me, hardly anyone stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas. Seriously. I swear there were only 6 in total including me.

Hermione, Ron and Harry made up three of the others, I wasn't too sure who the other people were.

Now I was faced with the dilemma of either tagging awkwardly around with those three or just hang around awkwardly on my own. I think we all know what I chose.

"Hey!" I greeted the trio enthusiastically who were currently taking up the sofa by the fire reading a few books on beasts.

"Hello," they all greeted in unison as I sat down.

"So I guess you guys aren't bothered by Sirius Black then?" I tried to make conversation but Harry simply frowned at the name. Oh yeah... He knows that he's his godfather. Turns out he had found out during the last Hogsmeade trip and I'm willing to bet it was while I was shopping for the man in question. Harry wasn't very happy to say the least.

"He can't attack us now; they improved the security," Hermione answered matter-of-factly.

"I see..." I acknowledged her comment and then we fell into a weirdly comfortable but awkward silence, as they continuing to read through the books.

"What are you reading?"

"We're trying to make a defence for Buckbeak - the hippogriff who hurt Malfoy. He's facing a trial in April." Hermione answered as she closed her book and went on to another one in the pile.

"I liked him..."

"He doesn't deserve it! Malfoy was just being an idiot like always," Ron grumbled as he closed his own book in what seemed like defeat and just lay back.

"Full moon soon." Hermione suddenly stated and it was my turn to frown.

"What? Are you mental? Who goes around talking about full moons?!" Ron asked before I could give a pathetic answer.

"I was just looking at the lunar cycle since we are doing it in Astronomy actually, Ronald."

"Weirdo," Ron stated, grinned at me and I just smiled half-heartedly. As much as I had been trying to will it differently, my dad would be turning into a werewolf on Christmas Eve.

This left me with two options:  
1. Let him do this alone and I have to spend Christmas Eve alone.  
2. Sneak in during the transformation (if he's taken the potion, I am in no danger) and not leave.

Ever since I could remember, my Dad and I would spend Christmas Eve in a similar way you'd spend New Year's Eve. We would just wait till midnight then give each other our presents. It was a simple enough tradition that I didn't want to break.

The day drew even nearer and I tried to keep my mind off it by hanging around Hermione and co. Not that they minded, in fact, once you got to know them they were quite relaxed - not how I originally thought. I even attempted to help them with this trial Buckbeak was facing - badly. Apart from that though they were great, although they do have their moments where they would say something then share a look.

Eventually the day arrived and I decided to confront my dad about this.

"Absolutely not. I forbid you to see me."

"But, Dad! We ALWAYS spend Christmas Eve together! It's practically tradition!"

"I'm not putting you in danger, Freya."

"But you'll have taken that potion!"

"That doesn't mean I could still hurt you."

I sighed, this was going nowhere.

"So you'll be up here?"

"Yes."

"Alone?"

"Away from harming anyone."

"Fine..." I had already made my plan.

~*~*~

That evening, Hermione, Harry, Ron and I sat around in the common room for a while before we all mutually decided it was time for bed. I waited patiently listening for Hermione's trademark heavy breathing to show she was asleep before I put on clothes that weren't pyjamas, found some shoes and grabbed his present. I breathed in, closing my eyes preparing myself for what I was about to do.

I was to try and find his office without bumping into a teacher such as Professor Snape THEN I was going to see my Dad in his werewolf form. I had never seen him in this form before - he always forbid me to follow him and when I tried once he simply apparated after walking a mile from the house. I knew what he'd look like - I had seen pictures, not to mention Snape's lesson on Werewolves (we never had to hand in that essay thankfully).

Using my inner marauder from my dad's school days, I made it to his office without a problem thankfully so now I just had to unlock the door. I used the Alohamora charm and the lock clicked. I thanked Merlin that my Dad hadn't put any protection charms around his office.

I peered my head around the door and well, I was slightly surprised.

I was imagining my dad (in werewolf form) to be acting like a regular human and doing paperwork.

Alas, he was not.

Instead he was lying down on the floor much like a domestic dog or cat. He looked up when I walked in to growl but stopped short when he saw it was me. He dropped his head and turned away from me. I guess this was his way of saying 'don't look at me' oh yes, talking to Sirius in dog form had certainly helped me to learn the signs. I should be an animal documentary person! And here we have the elusive werewolf, ashamed of himself even though it was not their fault.

Yeah... Maybe not.

I walked over to him after placing his gift on his desk and tentatively reached out to touch him. Being forbidden to see him really makes your imagination wander but in the flesh he was just there, like the pictures in books show you.

I sat down by his head and I couldn't help it - I scratched his ear like you would to a dog. He looked up at me properly this time with shame still in his eyes.

"I'm not leaving you know. It's tradition, Dad." Calling him Dad made it easier somehow.

My dad huffed and looked away again.

"I think I'm closer to Harry, Ron and Hermione thanks to no-one staying for Christmas. So your wish for us to be friends came true - I think."

He looked up at me curiously then sat up to listen. I took this as my queue to talk more about Harry.

"He's quite nice actually, humorous too - like how you described James but a bit more reserved. He certainly has this wit you keep telling me about!"

If a werewolf could smile, my dad managed in a strange way.

"He still hates Sirius though," I looked at my hands while my dad just huffed in reluctance to hear about Sirius. He always changed the subject but he couldn't now.

"I don't think Sirius killed the Potter's you know, or those people." There, my 'theory' was out in the open even though it was true fact. You see I had never voiced this opinion to my Dad knowing his opinion was kind of different - he didn't want to talk about.

"I mean look at the facts! Peter was never found! Just a finger! What if he killed everyone then turned into a rat!" My dad huffed again but he did seem to be considering my 'theory'.

"What if it was Peter all along? You said you thought it was Sirius giving information to Voldemort! You know he despised his family! He ran away to live with James you said! Why would he just turn back again?"

The silence that followed felt tense.

Maybe because my dad hadn't even reacted to what I just said and was just sitting in a frozen form.

I sighed, "It's just been on my mind recently and it doesn't make sense... How could Sirius have killed all those people when he defended so many more?" I am such a great liar at times I should get an award.

"That's just my view, I know it probably makes no sense but I have given this a lot of thought!" I sighed again. I wish my dad could talk in this form, and then we could have our heart-to-heart like every Christmas Eve. I had no idea what his opinion on my 'theory' was.

My dad leant against me and I smiled as I scratched his ear again.

"I don't know why you're so ashamed of being a werewolf; you're the kindest person I know! I'm not just saying that because I'm your daughter you know," I grinned as he huffed proving I had just answered his thoughts.

"One day, I will get you your rights. Maybe not now but one day when I'm older. I'll create a petition and people will sign it sharing my view on this, it really sucks that some people out there who are evil also happen to be werewolves." Not naming any names...

"I just want you to be able to live in a regular home and feel normal..." I leant against my dad's head on my shoulder.

We stayed like this for a while, just enjoying each other's company. I looked at his pendulum clock he had on his desk, it was 11:55pm, almost Christmas. I looked at the present I had wrapped up which was currently taking up the centre of his desk. I had written his little phrase he would say to me when I was ill on a little note on the front 'Eat, you'll feel better!' I was quite proud of that.

The clock clicked onto midnight and I smiled, "Merry Christmas, Dad!"

He made a sound that sounded like a cross between a howl and a bark that I never thought was possible.

"Well, I guess I should go to bed now..." I said reluctantly. My dad sat up again and gave me a fatherly look as if to say 'yes you should, young lady, I shall be talking to you about this another day when I'm not weak.' I grinned and stood up.

"Night, Dad! And Merry Christmas again! Don't let the werewolf bring you down!" Need motivation? Come to me, I am clearly the epitome of motivation.

I left the room and closed it behind me. I was quick to walk back unlike on my journey here. As soon as I reached the dormitory I quickly put on my awaiting pyjamas before slipping under my duvet and falling straight to sleep - I think. You can never tell when you fall asleep can you?

The next morning I was awoken by Hermione's cat, Crookshanks jumping onto my chest.

"Merry Christmas, Freya!"

I was stunned, firstly because Hermione was awake before me and secondly, the sun was shining through the windows.

"Merry Christmas too, Hermione!" I couldn't help but grin as I politely shoved Crookshanks off of me. I loved Christmas just to see everyone's faces when i gave them presents... and to get presents too but that's beside the point. I couldn't wait to give Sirius his later. We had agreed to meet in the shack this evening for our own feast but back to the present...

"I was waiting for you to wake up, since we've opened our presents together the last two years!" This was true, Lavender and Parvati always went home for Christmas leaving the dormitory free to us. I preferred it that way.

"Thank you!" My eyes looked over at her present pile and I grinned seeing my present near the top. "Right, let's get opening presents!" I jumped to the bottom of my bed where my own pile of presents awaited and picked up the top one which was from Hermione.

I opened it to reveal a pot of crystallised pineapple, I grinned, "Thank you!" Hermione smiled in return, "you're welcome!'

Harry and Neville had both got me chocolate frogs - I did love those things.

Ron got me some Bertie Botts every flavour beans - not so much of a fan... Mainly because I always end up with earwax or spinach – yuck.

Fred, George and Lee had given me a joint present of various pranking 'must haves' according to their card. I rolled my eyes at this but was glad to actually have an excuse to use them without having to go to them. What can I say? I do love a good prank, I just keep quiet about it.

Luna had managed to find a strange sweet called Sugared Butterfly Wings which looked extremely pretty. I wasn't sure if I would find the will to eat them.

Dean had given me a poster from his favourite football team. Last year he had given me the same thing and the year before... Each time it was a different picture but it still amazed me how they didn't move. That and Dean was determined for Seamus and I to love football. I was now going to have three posters behind my bed. Anyone who didn't know me would think I adored this team but I simply liked the idea of non-moving pictures.

Seamus' present was more practical than the rest giving me a scarf instead. It was a good scarf, it was a knitted one but wasn't scratchy. Perfect for the cold weather! It was maroon – 'To match the brilliant Gryffindor colours!'

My dad had given me a necklace. I would've been surprised at his good taste in necklaces if there wasn't a note saying 'Your mother would've wanted you to have this.' I picked up the necklace to inspect it further. It was elegantly simple with a small pendant crystal wrapped in wire on the chain. It was strange to think this is only the second thing I've seen to put to my mother (the first being the photo stored safely away in my dad's possession). For some reason I didn't feel as emotional as I should've done. I knew Harry got emotional over just the tiniest thing from his parents, so why wasn't I? I placed it around my neck and saw Hermione stare curiously.

"Who is that necklace from?"

"My dad," Technically, It was.

"It's lovely." She complimented.

"Thank you!" I fiddled with it momentarily before letting it fall.

I didn't have any other presents so I cleared away the debris just as Hermione was beginning to do.

"Do you want to see Harry and Ron with me?" Hermione asked as she picked up Crookshanks and stood by the door.

"It's ok; I'll see them later anyways!" I wasn't exactly part of their group was I? I didn't think it was right to join in on their Christmas morning moment.

Just as I was finished getting ready for the day, Hermione came storming back in.

"I CANNOT BELIEVE RON. Why can't he just accept Crookshanks?"

"Um..."

This earned me a glare. Woops. "I can't help it that he has cat instincts!"

"True..." Sure I was secretly rooting for the cat but I could see where Ron was coming from.

"He just doesn't understand!"

"Mmm..." I didn't want to say 'LET'S JUST KILL SCABBERS!' Because:  
A) I'm not a killer.  
B) Ron won't like me at all.  
C) it's not exactly normal to yell about killing a friend's pet.

Hermione muttered some more before dropping her cat on her bed and walking into the bathroom and closing the door.

I walked over to crookshanks, "For what it's worth, I'm still on your side! And if you kill him, no-one can be blamed!" He just looked at me blankly and licked his paw. Lovely.

I went into the common room to see Harry and Ron sitting there admiring what looked like a broomstick.

"What's that?"

"Only the best broomstick in existence!" Ron answered.

"A firebolt?!"

"Yes!" Ron grinned before Harry could even utter a word.

"Oh Merlin you lucky thing!"

"Thank you!" Harry finally got a word in before Ron. "We don't know who it's from though... Any ideas?"

Sirius.

"Umm... No, sorry!" IT'S SIRIUS, HARRY! HE WANTS TO SEE YOU. "Thanks for the presents by the way, guys!"

"You're welcome! Same goes to you," Harry replied grinning.

Hermione came down to join us by the fire and just sat down and glared at Ron who returned the favour. This was going to be a great day...

Harry and I tried to keep the peace to no avail. On the other hand, Harry and I did bond a bit more discussing our lives before Hogwarts and how terrible his cousin was. I tried not to boast about my life in comparison to his.

Soon it was time for the feast and instead of four house tables, all that was in the great hall was the teacher's table with the traditional twelve Christmas trees decorating the room.

The room was quite marvellous. That was the only word I could think to describe it. I wasn't surprised to not see my dad at the table but I couldn't help wish that he was.

"Merry Christmas!" Dumbledore greeted us as Harry, Hermione and I entered the great hall. "As there are so few of us, it seemed foolish to use the House tables... Sit down, sit down!"

We sat down somewhat awkwardly at the end of the table. I was stuck sitting next to Hermione and a first year who looked rather embarrassed. Dumbledore (acting like an over-excited child, might I add) pulled a cracker with Professor Snape which gave him a rather humorous gift - it was Neville's Grandma's Hat. Needless to say, he quickly passed it to Dumbledore. I smiled to myself wondering how Neville was at this moment; he had only sent a Christmas card saying he would tell me about his holiday when he got back but I wasn't sure if he would be returning if his grandma had his way. Ever since the Sirius Black fiasco, his grandma had been sending letters to Neville begging he come home well, demanding he did. I was surprised she hadn't sent a howler yet.

"Dig in!" Dumbledore told us and I finally took in the food before me. There was a bit of everything - from Turkey to Humbugs. I helped myself to some chocolate conveniently nearby.

The doors to the great hall opened again revealing a wide eyed Professor Trelawney and I inwardly groaned. She was even wearing green which made her eyes stand out more.

"Sybil, this is a pleasant surprise!" Dumbledore greeted.

"I have been crystal gazing, Headmaster, and to my astonishment, I saw myself abandoning my solitary luncheon and coming to join you. Who am I to refuse the promptings of fate? I at once hastened from my tower, and I do beg you to forgive my lateness..."

"Certainly, certainly, let me draw you up a chair!" He conjured up a chair and placed it between the two teachers that hated her most - Professors McGonagall and Snape, Haha.

She babbled on some more about 13 shouldn't sit at a table before having a humorous argument with McGonagall - who won it of course.

"But where is dear Professor Lupin?" She asked.

I stiffened immediately, I looked up to see her wide eyes staring at me curiously.

I'm afraid the poor fellow is ill again," said Dumbledore interrupting her penetrating gaze. "Most unfortunate that it should happen on Christmas Day."  
It was Dumbledore's turn to stare at me penetratingly. I felt the familiar heat in my cheeks and I looked down at the chocolate on my plate. That didn't help the matter - I just wanted to see my Dad even more.

I vaguely heard McGonagall and Trelawney bicker again but I zoned out wondering how my dad was doing.

I zoned back in again at another mention of my dad, Trelawney didn't even seem to care that I was in the room.

"I have seen that poor Professor Lupin will not be with us for very long. He seems aware, himself, that his time is short. He positively fled when I offered to crystal gaze for him"

I rolled my eyes at that.

"Imagine that," Professor McGonagall replied sarcastically.

"I doubt that Professor Lupin is in any immediate danger. Severus, you've made the potion for him again?" Dumbledore interrupted before another argument began.

It was strange to think that all the teachers knew of my dad's condition but didn't run away from him - It was quite nice actually, like an unspoken agreement.

The rest of the dinner went by quite peacefully. Hermione and I had a rather lengthy discussion on Sirius Black. She insisted that Sirius should be caught as soon as possible while I defended Sirius to the bitter end - an end which involved Hermione saying 'you're crazy' before offering me more chocolate.

After what seemed like a long time, Harry and Ron rose from the table to leave which made Trelawney go mental. Her reaction would definitely win her a place on West End.

"Coming?" Harry asked us.

"No," Hermione muttered. "I want a quick word with Professor McGonagall."

I stood up, "Yeah, I can't possibly eat anymore!"

Harry and Ron grinned and agreed as we walked out.

The journey back to the common room was peaceful and once we entered (after talking to a drunken Sir Coddagon) I told them I was going to write some letters therefore wouldn't be seeing them for a while.

That and I was getting my present ready for Sirius Black since I hadn't wrapped it up yet but I wasn't telling them THAT.

It wasn't long after I had wrapped them up, finished writing letters and was ready to go when Hermione came rushing in upset and red faced.

"Oh they hate me, they HATE me Freya! You won't hate me will you?"

I sighed, looking at Hermione's clock which read 6pm, looks like I'm not leaving soon.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"You know Harry's Firebolt?"

"You didn't break it did you?!"

"Worse, I told Professor McGonagall about it because..." She paused as if to see how she could say the next bit, "Because I think Sirius Black sent it!"

I was stunned. How could she even figure that- oh, he's his godfather, guess it's not that hard to figure out. Even a troll could've seen that coming, Freya.

"She's taking it away to be stripped down for jinxes and will return it in a couple of weeks but now they HATE ME." She lay face down on her bed and didn't move for a while, just a sob every now and then.

"I doubt he'll want to KILL him! Honestly, he's a good guy!"

"And how would you know that." Hermione retorted, sitting up sniffing slightly.

"Because my dad was best friends with him at school that's why." Oh good comeback, Freya! Well done, you amazing person, you!

"He killed a street of people and betrayed Harry's parents!"

That was it. It seemed that for the second time this year, I was to overreact in subtle Trelawney style. I had enough of everyone accusing Sirius. Sure they only believed the ministry but it wasn't fair!

"I'm going for a walk." I subtly slipped his presents (which I had shrunk previously to avoid suspicion) into my pocket and walked out. The scene in the common room would have been almost humorous to an outsider looking in.

Harry was staring open mouthed at the portrait entrance while Ron just paced back and forth. My entrance seemed to click them out of their trance and they stopped and stared at me. I smiled politely and walked past them out of the portrait hole before they came to their senses.

I quickly made my way to the Shrieking Shack without any interruptions and burst open the door, "MERRY CHRISTMAS, SIRIUS!"

A startled Sirius lowered his wand that was about to attack me and relaxed. "What did we say about slamming open the door!?"

"That it shouldn't be done unless it's Christmas..?" I answered, grinning.

"Just like your father," He smirked as he sat back down on the sofa which had now been moved near to an active fireplace. I didn't even think it worked!

"I brought you a gift! Well, gifts, you can't have one without the other really..." I rambled as I sat down next to him.

"Oh really?" He gave a quizzical eyebrow and I realised it must've looked like I had nothing. I grinned and pulled out his presents from my coat jacket and enlarged them. Sirius was clearly resisting a grin.

After handing them to him he opened them like a child on Christmas- well it was Christmas... never mind.

"Thank you so much! I've been meaning to get new clothes..." He gestured to his prison outfit and I smiled.

"At least now you can stop looking like a prison escapee!"

"True, true..." He was admiring the socks that looked like a sock shaped ocean. His eyes lit up suddenly and stood up, "you need your present!"

My own eyes widened in shock, "really?! There's no need! You teaching me the Patronus is enough!"

"Well I decided to get you something useful..." He went over to pick up something and lifted it up to reveal an owl in a cage.

An _owl_.

A _real life_ owl.

FOR ME!

"Merry Christmas!" Sirius grinned handing it over.

"But... How?!"

"I have my sources," Sirius tapped his nose secretly.

"Thank you so much! ... Does it have a name?"

"No, I thought you could name him"

I grinned as I opened the cage he was in to let him out; he hopped out onto the sofa arm and hooted softly.

Looking at the owl made me remember Harry's present now taken away from him.

"Harry got the Firebolt taken away from him."

"What?! I suppose they figured out it was from me then?"

"Yeah... He'll get it back once they've stripped for jinxes - it was Hermione who told Professor McGonagall who took it away."

"That's a shame. I would do the same if I was in her position though so she's doing the right thing."

"But you wouldn't kill Harry!"

"Yes, but not everyone knows that."

"It's not fair!" My new owl seemed to hoot in agreement.

"People will believe what they want to believe to feel safe; it's not your fault. Look! I brought food too!" He subtly changed the subject as he lifted up some food from behind the sofa and I grinned, feeling hungry for the second time that day.

**This may be my longest chapter yet! O.o I would've posted this earlier but I kept getting distracted when editing it, sorry xD **

**What did you think? :D**

**~ Fantaicy**


	10. Birthdays, Potions and Revelations

After my dad had regained his strength, I decided to go and talk to him about the necklace he had given to me. It seemed he also wanted to talk to me about another present...

"Who's the owl from?" He asked as soon as I walked through the door.

"What?" Play it cool, Faye, play it cool.

"The owl you got for Christmas, who gave it to you?"

I decided to feign innocence."I don't know, I thought it was you?"

"No..." He frowned and I was willing to bet he knew it was from Sirius.

"Harry got a mysterious present too, didn't he?" He added after a brief pause of thinking.

"Yeah, but Hermione told Professor McGonagall that it might be from Sirius Black so she took it away to get stripped so now Harry and Ron aren't really talking to her." I was giving a slightly biased view but she didn't believe me and my view of Sirius no matter how much evidence I gave her.

"I heard... What did she do about your owl?"

"I told her I assumed it was from you and she just accepted it - I think."

"I was thinking about what you told me on Christmas Eve... Do you think the owl could also be from Sirius?"

"It's a possibility, I guess" IT'S FROM SIRIUS. I GOT HIM CLOTHES.

"Now I'm not saying I believe your theory but... It's a good theory."

"Really?"

"Yes, now I presume you want to know about that necklace I gave you?"

"You may as well take professor Trelawney's place with those psychic skills!" I grinned trying to lighten the atmosphere.

"Yes, well," my dad paused, "I've never mentioned your mother and I felt you needed to know-"

"Dad, its okay, I'm happy just knowing you!"

And that was the truth, sure, I wanted to know but I was content not knowing - I was thankful to have a caring dad like mine that took on both roles that I didn't miss a female parent at all. Of course, people like Harry have a valid reason since he had such a rotten upbringing.

"Are you sure? I found a picture of her if you wish..." He trailed off hopefully.

"... Do you?" I let my curiosity get the better of me.

"Yes!" He reached under some papers on his desk, uncovered it and handed it over. I resisted the urge to say 'already seen this' because I had. It was the same picture I would find myself staring at whenever I was feeling nosy about my Dad's school life in his photo albums.

"If you ever want to talk about her, I'm always here!" He gestured to the surrounding office and I grinned,

"Will do, dad!" I stood up feeling better that I had sorted out any 'feelings' I had on the subject.

"You can keep the picture, dad, I'm sure you want to keep it yourself," I handed back the picture and walked towards the door.

"If you're sure..." My dad was frowning more than he often did - obviously in serious thought, "See you later!" He quickly changed his frown into a grin and I returned the favour and left.

It wasn't till halfway through January that I was finally able to produce a patronus.

My memory was simple, just talking to my Dad on various Christmas Eve's including the latest one in which he had unfortunately turned into a werewolf and I had seen him for the first time.

I allowed the memory to fill my entire body like Sirius constantly told me to do and breathed just reliving the memory.

"Expecto Patronum!" I gasped when I realised it had actually worked. A wolf had leapt out of my wand and was just bounding around like an over-excited dog which - coincidently enough - was exactly what Sirius was doing.

"YOU DID IT!" He cheered.

"I DID!" The patronus disappeared and I smiled at the thought that I had actually achieved something worthwhile - sure, I've done other stuff but this took 2 months to achieve!

"I'm so proud of you!" Sirius suddenly walked over and hugged me and I hugged back - the moment seemed right. He suddenly gasped.

"What?!"

"I just realised... What are we going to do every Sunday morning?"

I grinned, having already thought about this, "Well there is one other thing I'd like to learn..."

"And what's that?" Sirius grinned; he probably knew what I was going to ask.

"Can you teach me how to become an animagus?"

"Of course! Be here at the regular time next Sunday and I'll have an entire lesson planned!"

And that's exactly what I did for the continuing Sundays until one February evening I began to question Sirius' sanity due to him BREAKING INTO THE COMMON ROOM WITH A KNIFE. All to kill Scabbers apparently. Too bad he was m.i.a.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING BREAKING INTO HOGWARTS YOU IDIOT." I shouted the Sunday morning that followed the incident as soon as I saw him in the shrieking shack.

"I didn't think he'd wake up..."

"You're on Britain's most wanted! You can't just appear at the bottom of Ron's bed with a KNIFE."

"Ok, maybe that was slightly out of order..."

_"SLIGHTLY?!" _My voice raised an octave. I should add this to the list of overreactions as number 3.

"Ok, maybe a lot - I found a list of passwords, it was too hard to resist!"

"... 'Found'." I made quotation marks with my hands as I said it.

"Well Crookshanks found them..."

"You've been talking to Crookshanks?!"

"He's on our side!" He protested grinning – he was having fun clearly.

"He killed Scabbers."

"He _wishes_ he had killed _Peter_," He corrected, "He's simply missing so I decided to go and look for him."

"I wouldn't try that again. The castle has even stricter security now!"

"Sorry," he did look sincere finally, I'll give him that.

"I'll forgive you once you've helped me become an animagus."

"I've told you it's not that simple! It took James and I years!" I noticed he didn't even mention Peter anymore.

I sighed, "I know... It just looks cool, you know?"

I had made no progress so far._ None_. Sirius had wanted me to research it first saying he had to go through the trouble so I had to as well – rude.

"Not only is it cool, you can be with your dad when it's a full moon!"

"There's a potion that helps him keep his mind, I need to learn how to make that..." I had an idea, "You know what - instead of becoming an animagus, how about you help me to perfect this potion?"

He seemed a bit stunned to my sudden change of mind. "Are you sure?"

"Yep." At least a potion doesn't involve years of concentration - I hoped.

"Do you know what this potion called by any chance?"

I thought for a moment. All I knew was that it was called Wolfsbane potion because I had never investigated further than that one book which was now back in the library.

"Wolfsbane Potion. It's rather complicated though and it needs to be completely perfect otherwise it could have disastrous consequences according to a book I read."

"I see... Well how about you send me the list of ingredients and recipe and I'll see what I can do."

"But I don't know what it needs." I said half-heartedly. So close yet so far.

"I'll figure out something then, if you find anything - send it over with a non-suspicious owl around dusk."

"Oh now you think about your safety..." I couldn't stop myself saying.

"I said I'm sorry! I hope the poor boy isn't too traumatised." He did look genuinely sorry.

"Oh he's far from it - I think he's slightly proud he survived such a notorious murderer!" I left out that he had told anyone who would listen of his 'brave' survival of Sirius Black.

"As long as he's ok - do you think he'll read an apology from me?"

"Sirius, don't even go near him! I don't want to hear about how Sirius Black sent Ron an apology but is probably secretly a murder threat!"

"I suppose you're right... Well - If you don't leave now, you'll be late to breakfast so I won't be keeping you!" I don't think he realised how early it still was.

I left the shack and went to breakfast extremely early.

"You're down early for a Sunday, Faye!" Neville observed and I grinned as he sat down.

"Couldn't sleep!" The usual lie for early awakenings.

We began discussing Professor Binns' essay that was due in for tomorrow and I promised Neville that we would work on it together later. Of course, Seamus and Dean chose that moment to arrive themselves and naturally wanted help as well. So it was after breakfast that we sat in one of the corners in the common room working on an essay on the history of witches in the medieval times.

Time passed quite quickly now since I had learned how to perform the Patronus spell and I was getting quite good at making the wolfsbane potion - that is, without a test subject since I didn't want to harm anyone. Sirius insisted on giving it to my dad but I didn't have enough faith in myself despite the potion looking correct.

April 1st marked the Twins birthday and thankfully they kept reminding me beforehand so I had remembered to get them a present the next time I was in Hogsmeade and brought them both non-identical ties that made the wearer practically glow; It was in the top pranks section of Zonkos so it must be good.

"Happy Birthday!" I told them at the party they had held in the common room for the Gryffindors. It had taken a while to get them by themselves but I had waited patiently since they knew _everyone_.

"Why thank you, Lupin!" George grinned.

Fred on the other hand... "Get us a present?"

And people wonder how it's so hard to tell them apart.

"Sure did!" I handed them both their respectively wrapped presents which had happy birthday written on it a billion times.

They unwrapped them identically and both reacted identically.

"TIES!" They exclaimed so loudly in excitement they startled many nearby Gryffindors.

They put them on proudly and then hugged me.

"Hey Fred! You're glowing!" George observed.

"So are you!" Fred grinned.

"Wicked." They said together and I shook my head laughing.

"See you around, Lupin!" George said disappearing into the crowd.

"Thanks for making us glow!" Fred added following George into the crowd.

Now it wasn't hard to spot the twins anymore.

I quickly retreated back to my dormitory since I had an essay to write that I had neglected all day to do since it was Herbology and I couldn't find Neville so I had to think for myself and I wasn't up for it - bad excuses, I know.

With nothing to do during school, Dean, Seamus and I thought this was a perfect moment to bring out his stick phobia so that's what we did.

We waited till we had a care of magical creatures lesson and as we studied the lovely flobberworms (not) , Dean found a stick to hit Malfoy with and I enchanted it to follow him around and hit him.

His reaction was priceless.

_*whack*_

"GET AWAY FROM ME." He yelled suddenly causing Crabbe and Goyle to jump away in surprise.

_*whack*_

"IT'S GOING TO KILL ME."

"Calm down, Malfoy. What's going ter kill yer?" Hagrid asked walking over almost regretfully. He clearly didn't want to help.

"THE STICK. THE STICK IS GOING TO KILL ME."

"..." Hagrid had no response for that.

"GET AWAY FROM MEEEEeeeeee" Malfoy ran away back to the castle and I stopped the enchantment.

"Back ter work everyone." Hagrid tried to say seriously but all us Gryffindors were laughing while the Slytherins glared at us.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Ron said with awe in his voice

"Did you see his face?!" Seamus joined in acting innocently.

No-one seemed to care that a stick had attacked him just that Malfoy was being an idiot.

I saw Hermione give me a knowing look and I grinned innocently back at her.

The fourth of May was my birthday and I was surprised to wake up with Hermione standing over me grinning. I was glad our friendship was closer this year she was actually amazing.

"Happy Birthday, Freya!" She grinned as she shoved a present in my face oh so kindly. This was the second time this year Hermione had woken up before me - The first being Christmas.

"I set my alarm so that I could wake up before you." Hermione said answering my unspoken question – creepy.

I nodded still confused as to why she would bother and gazed at the present in my hands. It was book shaped.

I unwrapped it and read the title: **The dark arts outsmarted** , I grinned, "Thanks, Hermione! Maybe there's something on here that even my dad doesn't know!"

"I hope so, I tried to find a book that wasn't too complicated and you hadn't heard of."

"You could've found any book that wasn't part of the requirements for school and I wouldn't have read it!"

"I'll keep that in mind..." She smiled then looked at the bottom of my bed where a small of pile of presents were waiting. I grinned and grabbed them all and placed them by me on my bed.

The first one was from my dad and was two mirrors. I was confused until I saw a note saying:

_It's a two way mirror, I know Sirius and James had a pair at school to stop being bored in detentions so I figured, since you've started getting into detentions thanks to those Weasley twins that this could come in some use for you and a friend. Love Dad._

"What is it?" Hermione asked peering into a mirror with confusion.

"A two way mirror – look," I picked up the other one and said Hermione and she appeared in my own mirror with a look of surprise.

"You're in my mirror!" Hermione exclaimed and I grinned.

Hermione put the mirror down and her image disappeared showing my own face again, "That will come in useful, I'm sure."

"Hope so!" I placed the two mirrors on my bedside table then opened a joint present from Harry and Ron – chocolate frogs and Bertie Botts every flavour beans.

"That sorts me out for a while, sweet wise!" I noted and Hermione smiled.

I went on to the next present which was from both Dean and Seamus which was a nifty little charm bracelet with a football charm and a shamrock charm. Huh. The card said:

_Now you can NEVER forget us! Seamus and Dean._

I smirked and put on the bracelet.

"Is that from Seamus and Dean?"

"How did you guess," I said sarcastically.

Hermione didn't even bother answering.

At breakfast, I received an owl from Sirius with a gift – It was a miniature wolf, Stag and dog to resemble Sirius, my dad and Harry's. They moved and everything! I grinned and placed them in my pocket for safe keeping.

It was a Wednesday which meant I had lessons, on my _birthday_. But they went by quickly enough thankfully and I decided to do my homework quickly in the common room so I could just relax.

This was not going to be the case.

"WELL IF IT ISN'T DEAR OLD LUPIN!"

"WHO'S NOW 14 YEARS OLD."

"THAT'S A CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION!"

Lee, Fred and George arrived and sat around me on the table I was currently using. They tied a balloon to a table leg and then placed a present on the table. I stared at it unsure if it was safe to open.

"It's not dangerous we promise."

"Solemnly swear." George agreed and I sighed and unwrapped it to reveal an object that looked familiar...

"MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU!" They yelled simultaneously and I realised it was from the muggle movie, Star Wars. I had watched them once and thought they were brilliant. I can't believe I hadn't recognised it!

"A LIGHTSABER!" I exclaimed as I picked it up and whooshed it to reveal a glowing rod.

"We er... spiced it up a little bit." Fred grinned.

"... Is it like a real one?!"

"Maybe..." Lee grinned.

The balloon above my head chose that moment to pop and loads of streamers flew out and fell on all of our heads.

"Thank you guys so much!" I grinned also while peering out from under a pile of streamers on my head. I stood up and equally hugged them all.

"So, shall we test out this lightsaber?" They all grinned at my suggestion.

They threw stuff at me while I deflected them entertaining many Gryffindors who were currently in the room and for once, I didn't feel overwhelmingly self-conscious!

Seamus and Dean joined in and everyone had goes deflecting objects with the lightsaber. We even deflected spells! It was brilliant fun and we even persuaded Neville – who was trying to avoid us seeing what we were doing – to have a go and he was actually brilliant.

With birthdays out of the way, I had to study for the upcoming exams in June since our teachers kept telling us in every lesson and I had done quite well so far. DADA was covered, so was charms. I had Neville to help me on Herbology and Dean and I studied Potions together since we were a good team.

Overall, my studying went by great just as it had done in the last two years and I had got good results so when it actually mattered, I'm sure I'd be fine.

By the time exams began, I was ready to face them and needless to say, I left my first exam (transfiguration) feeling quite confident. All we had to do was turn a teapot into a tortoise and my tortoise was alive and well! I couldn't say the same for Seamus' who apparently only gave it three legs but apart from that it looked fine, as did Dean and Neville's.

The afternoon consisted of Charms which was to conjure the cheering charm which was simple so that was over quickly.

The rest of the exams were rather boring apart from defence against the dark arts thanks to my dad who had conducted a course filled with all the creatures we had learnt that year. It was quite fun - minus the boggart part but hey, no-one likes those things.

After our Divination exam (boring), Dean, Seamus and I all sat in the common room relishing in our defeats and victories of our exams and that they were finally over. I hadn't messed up too majorly thankfully and I don't think the guys did either.

I had found a plate of some millionaire shortbread on my bedside table from Harvey with a note saying 'hope you did well on your exams!', bless him.

My dad had also given me a bar of chocolate as we passed him in the corridor returning from our divination test. I had split it up evenly between the four of us and now we were eating millionaire shortbread – brilliant!

News spread quickly that Buckbeak was going to be executed today also but there was nothing we could do. Harry, Hermione and Ron all went to comfort Hagrid but then they never came back.

I had gone to bed quite late wondering what they were doing when I saw the lunar cycle which was stuck strategically on my bedside table so only I could see it and it said that it was a full moon tonight. I sighed hoping my dad was ok in his office when I heard a howl from outside. That was new.

I got up to look out the window with the safe knowledge that my other two roommates were snoring, deep in sleep. I couldn't see anything out of the window so I just assumed it was a coincidence that there was a wolf nearby - my dad wouldn't be roaming the forest... Would he?

Needless to say that the idea of a lone wolf that could also be my dad kept me up the rest of the night.

I never heard Hermione come back so I hoped she was ok.

I went down to breakfast - early as usual and when the post arrived, I had a letter from Sirius.

_Dear Freya,__I'm sorry, but I've had to leave. Your father will explain, I'm sure. But I will explain briefly now.__Last night, I attacked Peter in my dog form but unfortunately Ron had a firm hold of him. I couldn't help it - I attacked Ron and dragged him to the shrieking shack. You should've seen his face when I transformed! Harry and Hermione followed and so did Remus soon after. So did Snape surprisingly and after knocking him out we explained the story of peter and his betrayal. We had peter in our grasps but unfortunately it was a full moon. We lost peter and I had to protect Remus. Of course it wasn't long till the dementors found me - I got put into the prison above the school and Hermione and Harry arrived helped me escape with a hippogriff!__I'm safe now. Don't worry.__Sirius.__P.s give Remus that potion!_

I blinked. So I did hear my dad last night and somehow Harry and Hermione had found a hippogriff! What. Talk about 'brief description'.

I slowly folded the letter and placed it back in its envelope and noticed Neville sit down in front of me moments later.

"Hey," he greeted and I grinned.

"Every day, we're both down early!"

"Apart from Sundays for the most part this year," Neville stated and I nodded.

"True... But I won't be anymore, bright and early every day now!"

"Really? I don't know how you manage it. Even Hermione says you get up at the crack of dawn but I don't think it's possible!"

"What about the giant sleepover in here?"

"Everyone was up though!"

"Fair enough. Maybe I'm just destined to wake up early for the rest of my life!" I said over dramatically.

"Maybe," Neville agreed and we ate in a companiable silence.

This year was going to end great! My dad would be returning again next year, Sirius Black was still safe and no-one had found out about my dad being a werewolf.

The hall gradually filled and Seamus and Dean joined us and we discussed a bit of everything. With the summer holidays in sight, we discussed our plans - Dean was going to Germany for a week, Seamus would be having a family reunion in Ireland (as always) and Neville wasn't sure. I didn't know myself to be honest. Every year meant a different house in a different location so I was left wondering which place in England we would be taking residence.

We also talked about the last Hogsmeade trip of the school year and we planned to spend the entire time in the three broomsticks until we had to return since we loved the taste of the butterbeer.

"Snape looks suspicious." Dean observed quietly and we turned around to see him smiling. If he's smiling, something bad was going to happen. He looked over at us then directly at me and purposefully stood up and walked over to the Slytherin table and whispered something at the top of the table.

"What is he doing?" Seamus asked narrowing his eyes.

"No idea." I answered.

The group of Slytherins suddenly turned their heads to stare at me and whispered to the people next to them.

Oh no. No no no no. The colour drained from my face.

He walked back to the teacher table still smiling and acted as if he had done nothing.

More and more Slytherins were staring at me and sneering.

"What's going on?" Dean asked me confused as to why they would stare at me.

"My dad's secret is out." I simply stated before standing up and walking out of the room ignoring the laughs and sneers at the Slytherin table. I walked back to my dormitory ignoring Dean, Seamus and Neville's questions on 'what secret' as they followed me and lay face down on my bed.

My life was over. My dad was going to quit thanks to Snape. A man I had momentarily respected for being able to create such a useful potion for my Dad had gone and told the Slytherins his secret. By the end of the day, everyone would know his secret – even Seamus, Dean and Neville.

"FAYE." I heard from the common room but I didn't respond knowing it was Dean, Seamus and Neville.

"LOOK," It was Dean that continued, "YOU'RE OBVIOUSLY UPSET."

_Duh._

"WE'RE GOING TO HOGSMEADE STILL IF YOU WANT TO JOIN US?"

I didn't respond even though I really wanted to, I couldn't. The only person I wanted to see was my dad.

"WE'LL TAKE THAT AS A NO." Seamus continued this time.

"YOU KNOW WHERE WE ARE IF YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT."

Silence.

There was now no-one in the Gryffindor tower apart from me and I didn't like it.

Merlin I hated my reactions sometimes. There were my friends, going to Hogsmeade without me, who I could've told my secret without them judging me but no. I choose to overreact like an overdramatic and not talk to them. This was my fourth over-reaction this year - Hey, maybe _I_should try out for West End? Trelawney and Malfoy better watch out, I'm going to get that role! Whatever role that is...

After about 5 minutes of just lying face down on my bed and letting my thoughts revolve around my head, I heard Lavender and Parvati walk in and giggling in hushed voices. I couldn't see them because thankfully I had closed the curtains around my bed. They soon left again still giggling and I couldn't help but KNOW the giggling was about me.

I waited another ten minutes before deciding to go to my Dad's office where I knew he must've been now that breakfast was over and everyone would now be or about to go to Hogsmeade.

His door was open and a suitcase was currently being opened onto the table.

"So..." He began. I blinked.

"Saw you coming," He winked and pointed at the marauders map currently open next to his suitcase.

I walked over to it and stared in awe. It was just how he had described it. "It's brilliant!"

"Isn't it just?" He sighed in content it seemed.

"How'd you find it? You said it was lost!" I trailed a finger over Harry, Ron and Hermione who were in the hospital wing - guess last night wasn't an easy ride.

"Harry had it."

"He did?"

"He was walking down the corridors at night with Lumos on. Professor Snape found him and I was patrolling a corridor further along and went to investigate. I recognised the parchment immediately. Naturally I had to confiscate it to stop Professor Snape from stealing it."

"Fair enough..." I paused for a moment watching my Dad pack up almost subtly.

"So the entire school now knows your werewolf all because Snape saw you and Sirius try to attack Peter?" I grinned trying to sound calm but I knew my voice had come off as weak.

"I see you've read Sirius' letter." He observed.

"Yup..."

"I'm not mad at you for talking to Sirius behind my back but it's clear why you suddenly had a theory of him being innocent. Do you want to hear the full story of what happened last night?"

"It would be nice!"

He told me of Harry telling him about seeing Peter Pettigrew on the map and then last night seeing Sirius black attack Ron and Peter o the map. He naturally went to go and investigate and save Ron who was then accompanied by Harry and Hermione. He had left the map open on the table so once he had arrived at the scene and finally understood that Sirius was innocent - Snape had seen the map when going in to give him the wolfsbane potion and had followed my dad.

It ended with my Dad waking up near the lake and having to get back to his office.

"I'm sure Sirius told you his side of the story."

I nodded, "yeah, something about escaping on a Hippogriff?"

"Ah yes, he told me that too in a letter which I assume arrived at the same time as yours." He looked wistful for a moment.

"So you knew all along the owl was from him?" He asked and I nodded.

"I went over to the shrieking shack on Christmas in the evening and we exchanged presents..." I trailed off.

My dad gave me a quizzical look.

"I got him some basic clothes since all he had was that prison uniform."

"He was wearing his prison uniform last night..."

"He doesn't like wearing his new clothes when turning into a dog apparently."

"Makes sense, he was always picky about his clothes..."

"Where is he now then?"

"Who knows? Maybe he'll stay with us in the holidays..." He paused for a moment, "that is, if you don't mind?" He grinned already knowing the answer.

"That'll be great!"

"I knew you'd agree! What's this about a patronus charm then?"

"Oh that..." And I told him my story of how I met Sirius with my dad nodding and 'ah-ing' at the right times. My dad's a great listener.

"I heard you last night." I said suddenly after a momentary silence from finishing my story on Sirius.

"You did?"

"Yeah... I heard you howl but I was hoping it wasn't you."

"Guess I failed then?" He grinned.

"You didn't fail... Just slipped. The best of us do."

"Ah, but not the best of us are werewolves that can harm people."

"You don't harm people!" I argued and he shook his head laughing it off.

"Sure, sure."

"Are you resigning?"

"Yes... I did it first thing this morning and then I found out the entire school now knows I'm a werewolf thanks to Professor Snape." His eyes subconsciously narrowed at the name.

"I saw it happen. He had fun doing it - smiling the entire time."

"Well if it makes him happy for once, I guess we can allow it."

"But you're leaving! You finally have- well had- a job!"

"Not all good things can last, Freya." He placed a clock into the suitcase.

"You don't bloody deserve it!"

My dad gave me his fatherly look at the word 'bloody' but I shrugged it off.

"How many times have we been over this? 10? 20? 80 times? While I may have lost my job, I have found a friend I previously thought a criminal. I'm happy with that!" He did look happy despite the prominent wrinkles under his eyes from last night which would eventually fade slightly as the days went by.

This reminded me of something.

"Did Sirius tell you about the potion he helped me to make?"

"No..."

"Well after some research, I found the name of the potion, Snape, had been making and Sirius helped me to make it because I knew you wouldn't have it over the summer holidays and I didn't want that so there is a batch somewhere... But I don't know where so I guess I can make it again - I know it off by heart now!"

"Instead of revising, you made potions?"

"Only on Sunday mornings!" I protested!

"Thank you. I'm sure it will help immensely. It truly is a great invention!"

"I'm leaving today." He announced after another moment of silence.

"I guessed..." I trailed off sadly, looking at the suitcase which was half full. I noticed Harry, Ron and Hermione leaving the hospital wig and walk to the lake.

"So you won't see me again till the summer holidays. But don't worry, Sirius and I will be waiting to pick you up at the station!"

I smiled, "I can't wait! I wish you didn't have to leave."

"It's for the best, Freya."

"I know..." I couldn't really argue against him now he had his mind made up.

I helped him pack up then asked what he was going to do with the empty Grindylow tank.

"Maybe we should get some fish?" He laughed.

"..."

"No? Then it shall be an empty tank." He decided.

"That's not very interesting; don't you have any other ideas?" The thought of an empty tank was boring.

"The tank wasn't exactly at the top of my list of things to think about!" He protested and I laughed.

He stared at the map and sighed.

"Harry is on his way. I'm willing to bet he's going to protest about me resigning. Do you want to stay?" He already knew my answer.

"No thanks! Talk later!" I quickly but strongly hugged him since I wouldn't see him for a few days before practically running out to avoid Harry and decided to walk to the lake to see Hermione and Ron to see if they were ok.

Their initial greeting was by Ron who said his customary "Bloody hell!"

"Nice to see you too, Ron!" I smiled.

"Did you hear about what happened last night then?" Hermione asked.

"Yep..."

"I'm sorry for arguing with you about Sirius," Hermione apologised and I just waved it off.

"It's alright, you had reason to believe he was this mass murderer."

"Did you actually talk to him for an ENTIRE year?!" Ron asked.

"Yeah..."

It was silent for a moment. Everyone seemed to be thinking about Sirius Black but in their own way.

"How did you meet him though? Sirius only said about how you helped him keep sane throughout the year." Hermione asked

I smiled at the sane fact before I told them about how I had met him ever Sunday morning to learn the patronus charm which Hermione answered with a "you did get up rather early on Sundays..."

I told them about me telling him off for attacking Ron and for attacking the fat lady which they both laughed at.

I didn't tell them, however, about the wolfsbane potion but I did tell them about living with a werewolf since they now knew my dad's secret. They didn't hate my dad like most people used to do before he came to Hogwarts. I had hoped this would be a permanent attitude to werewolves but I knew it wouldn't seeing the Slytherins reactions this morning.

In return, they told me their version of the events last night.

The next few days were peaceful. Not only were exams over but there wasn't much to do except relax and look forward to results (or dread in Neville's case).

Harry and I spoke more, often discussing Sirius Black since he wanted to find out more about him but I didn't want to sound as if I was boasting so I tried to not make it sound too boastful.

Although everyone knew my dad's secret now, it was mostly only the Slytherins that would laugh and jeer. Everyone else was either curious or would just come to his defence whenever a Slytherin made a comment since he wasn't there to defend himself.

Seamus was especially defensive, with Dean being second often insulting the Slytherin (mainly Malfoy) to oblivion and, because the teachers were also on my side, the Slytherin (again, mainly Malfoy) would get detention.

They had returned from Hogsmeade that day enlightened to my rage and had immediately returned to comfort me which I had been thankful for.

Fred and George were also enchanting anyone who insulted me or my dad by shaving _'Prick'_into their hair without them knowing thanks to a spell they wouldn't tell me. The Slytherins still hadn't sussed out that if you stopped insulting us, they would stop getting it shaved into their hair. It was quite amusing really.

I couldn't stop thanking anyone who was on my side and it gave me hope that my dad would have rights in the future.

Results swiftly arrived and Seamus, Dean, Neville and I were all surprised that we had gotten E's in Trelawney's class as well as DADA (well, I already knew I had it). All of our results were great so our studying had paid off!

"This calls for a celebration!" Seamus announced and I knew just what to do.

I took them all down to the kitchens for the first time and we sat at a replica house table and ate millionaire shortbread and other sweet foods before returning to the common room and go to our respective dormitories.

The next day we all went to the station to go on the train to return home.

We quickly found a compartment and spent the journey reminiscing about our year at Hogwarts and playing dodgem paper which I of course won but Dean won a few times too.

When the train arrived, I hugged them all and told them I'd write before finding my dad waiting with an extremely shaggy dog.

* * *

**This chapter has flaws, I know but I'm tired and in a rush, I'm sorry! Hope you enjoyed the presents - honestly, magical presents are the hardest things to come up with! **

**~ fantaicy**


	11. Ireland, Quidditch and a Dance?

**So I know I've missed out Dean and Seamus' birthdays but I did some research and it's impossible to find out Deans and I believe Seamus' is in March sometime... If you would like to help me on this matter please pm me so that I can edit the correct chapter to place them in. It seems I shall have to make up Dean's so if anyone is up for helping me choose both dates you are more than welcome! Ok, I'll shut up now, READ!**

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Despite my dad saying Sirius would be staying with us - no sooner had we arrived home that Sirius told me he was hiding out in Europe for a while.

"But you just got here!" I protested.

"Your father and I were discussing it and we feel it's for the best if you are to stay out of danger."

"Me?!" I have to be honest; I had been looking forward to him staying with us.

"That and I'm still on the most wanted list thanks to Pettigrew escaping..." Sirius said resentfully.

"This isn't fair!" I continued to protest. I could've made a massive rant on how it wasn't fair if I wanted to.

"I'll keep in touch!" He summoned a suitcase from the other room and I wondered how much was in there.

He hugged me tightly and then said goodbye to my dad and apparated before I was even ready to let him go.

"He'll be ok," My dad assured me as I stared at the now empty spot in the room.

"I hope so" I muttered angry at the ministry even though they had reason to be.

My dad put an arm around my shoulders and showed me around the house - We had a new house yet again.

It was a small cottage in the countryside which was near to a small village and had an overgrown garden surrounding the house.

Inside it was cosy and had a homely feel to it. The kitchen was probably the biggest room which had a dining table inside it as well; there was a living room which had incredibly comfy sofas and a small TV to watch the news in the muggle world or a show that my dad had a secret liking for - antiques road show. I had only watched it once when I was 9 and it wasn't as great as he made it out to be. Just two teams trying to get the most money and win. Who knows - maybe I was missing something.

We arrived at my room, "Sirius and I took it upon ourselves to decorate It." my dad grinned as he opened the door and I felt my eyes widening as I took in the room before me.

The ceiling was enchanted to look like the sky much like the one in the great hall; the rest of the room had a Gryffindor theme, even the walls which were red and yellow stripes!

"It's amazing!" I exclaimed walking around the room.

There was a fireplace which had a mantel piece above it and I made a mental note to put the animated dog, stag and wolf on it.

On the bed was a small parcel and I gave my dad a questioning look.

"Open it, It's from Sirius and I," He gestured to the present I was staring at.

I opened it and a charm fell out.

"We noticed your charm bracelet and thought you'd like another charm to remember us by!" My dad looked proud and I grinned.

The charm was in the shape of the Whomping willow.

"It'd beautiful..." I trailed off looking at the intricate detail on it.

He walked across the room and helped me to put it on.

"That's four people, I'm not allowed to forget now," I grinned hugging my dad in thanks.

He left to make dinner and I collected my suitcase and decided to unpack - making sure to place the animated figures on the mantelpiece. I hadn't really had anywhere to put them at school due to Hermione probably guessing everything at the sight of them so I had left them in my suitcase. The animals didn't seem to mind though; they just jumped around the mantelpiece before settling in the middle and moving their heads every now and then.

As I watched with a bemused smile on my face, my dad spoke from the doorway.

"So those are the animals, Sirius told me about..."

I turned around in surprise then grinned, "yeah, but they haven't exactly seen the light of day."

"Oh really?" He walked over to the mantelpiece to inspect them.

"He left out Peter, I see." He went on, holding the wolf figurine in his hand.

"Well, he was more than a little hell bent on killing him." I said placing my clothes in various drawers and in the wardrobe.

"True... Oh, I came up here to tell you dinner's ready - Pasta bake!"

The rest of the evening, we discussed the entire year we had just had and he was still curious on Sirius and how he had been living so I answered any questions he had clearly neglected to ask Sirius himself out of respect.

A few days later I received a letter from Sirius via an extremely vibrantly coloured parrot.

We had been in the kitchen when it arrived and my dad just laughed at the sight of it.

A few items I recognised as ingredients fell out of the small envelope so Sirius had clearly enlarged it. It read:  
_  
__Dear Freya, ___

_You should definitely visit this country when you are older, the wizarding community here sure knows how to party! Not that I'm encouraging you to do so..._

I smiled; at least he was having fun. He couldn't say what country he was in, just in case the letter was intercepted as my dad quickly explained when I told him.__

_On a more serious note, I won't be returning for a while until the ministry isn't looking so hard for me which I'm afraid could be a long time but don't worry, I'll try my best to be here for you if you are in need. Just ask your dad if it's an emergency and he'll know what to do. Otherwise, I shall reply to your letters as best as I can without suspicion. Ignore the parrot - they don't use owls over here.___

_I'll stop bothering you for now - I'm sure you have a social life. I know it's a full moon soon so I enclosed the ingredients needed for the wolfsbane potion and the recipe in case you have lost it. I know you can do this! Tell me what happens!___

_Sirius_

"What have you got there?" My dad asked from across the table.

"Potion ingredients..." I trailed off knowing I would have to make it or feel extremely bad.

"Oh?" My dad asked looking over the items in confusion.

"For wolfsbane potion," I answered his unspoken question, "he believes I can do it so I'm going to make it."

"I believe you can too," my dad assured me and I smiled to hide my nervousness, gathered everything from Sirius and brought it upstairs. I pulled my cauldron from a drawer which held my magic items and placed it on the floor. Then I realised my floor was wooden.

"Great." I muttered to myself as I placed the ingredients into the potion along with the recipe and brought it into the kitchen.

"What's the safest place to make this?" I asked holding up the potion.

"On the stove?" He suggested not knowing himself by the sounds of it.

I shrugged and walked over to it, took everything back out and studied the recipe extremely carefully before filling the cauldron with water.

It took over an hour to make the potion and my dad, respecting my concentration hadn't questioned anything about the potion and simply sat at the table reading the daily prophet and glancing over every now and then.

"It doesn't' take long to mature so it will be ready for you whenever," I announced taking the cauldron off the heat and putting it in front of my dad who peered at it curiously.

"It certainly looks the same as Snape's version," he observed and I grinned.

The next full moon arrived and my dad took the potion with him to somewhere he wouldn't attack me in case the potion didn't work so that he couldn't harm me and after the full moon was long gone, my dad arrived back and greeted me with a hug.

"It worked!" He exclaimed twirling me around the room and his excitement was catching and soon enough we were both laughing and dancing around the kitchen which isn't often in our lives.

"This is brilliant! Now I won't need to worry about harming anyone!"

I sent a letter back to Sirius later that day telling him of the successfulness but since his parrot had gone on to Harry I had no choice but to send my own owl.

"I hope you like the tropics, Margo, 'cause that's where you're heading!" I had come up with a name for him eventually after reading a history book. Margo hooted in surprise but let me attach the letter to his foot and off he went.

I was half expecting him to arrive with a flower garland but he arrived in the same state as he left,

Dear Freya,

Glad to see it worked! I've moved on to Italy and the food is delicious! Admittedly, I'm still in the form as a dog but thanks to so much waste food I can eat well every night even if it is usually pizza or pasta. Tell your dad I say hello,

Sirius.

Margo had also managed to pick up another letter from Seamus inviting me to visit him in Ireland and go to the Quidditch world cup and my dad said yes so after sending back a reply saying I could visit, I was soon off to Ireland with my Dad. We flooed to Kings Cross, travelled to the closest train station in Ireland and then walked the extra fifteen minutes to their house since we had never been there, we couldn't apparate to it.

"I'll be back to pick you up in a week's time!" He said as he hugged me and I waved good bye as he apparated back to the train station since he now knew what it looked like.

He had left me at the gate so I was on my own to greet his eccentric family from what I had been told from him at school. Apparently his gran was often travelling by an enchanted hot air balloon to get places.

The house was big, and by big I mean so big it was practically a mansion and was surrounding by woodland.

No sooner had I rung the doorbell did a tall young man answer the door and grin, "You must be Freya! Fergus at your service!" He did an elaborate bow as he greeted me with a strong Irish accent and I laughed, this must be Seamus' cousin who was notorious for annoying Seamus in as many ways as possible. He was turning 17 soon apparently because Seamus wouldn't stop complaining about how it meant he could apparate.

"Faye!" Seamus appeared from behind the door glaring at Fergus. I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh don't mind him, he's been waiting by the door ever since your letter arrived saying you could come over!" Fergus flashed a smile and I gave Seamus a questioning look who was practically fuming.

"I WAS ABOUT TO ANSWER THE DOOR AND YOU JUST SHOVE ME BEHIND IT AS YOU ANSWER IT!" He exploded. I noticed his Irish accent was slightly stronger.

"Touchy..." Fergus patter Seamus' head since he was a great deal taller than him.

"What on earth is going on in here?" A woman walked in from another door and sighed, "Fergus please go somewhere else for at least _five _minutes?" She paused then added, "Please?" Fergus shrugged and walked back into the house to somewhere else. "And Seamus, keep your voice down!"

"Sorry auntie Evelyn..." Seamus trailed off.

"You must be Freya! I'm so sorry for Fergus, he doesn't meet new people often-"

"I heard that!" Fergus replied from another room.

The woman dismissed it and carried on, "as I was saying," She glared at the closed door that Fergus was obviously behind, "welcome to my home! I'm Evelyn, and that was my son you just met - Come in!" She put an arm around my shoulder and guided me in, talking to me as if she knew me all her life, it was comforting.

"Now I know that you'll want a room of your own instead of with Seamus and Dean -"

"Dean's coming too!?" I grinned and Seamus nodded.

"It wasn't sure if he could come so I didn't tell you in the letter," he explained as we walked up the stairs (a lot).

"Anyways," Evelyn said once we arrived on the top floor, "your room will be this one," she opened a door and inside was probably the biggest bedroom I had ever seen but not as great as my own back in England- I didn't mention this though.

"It's brilliant!"

"You'll also have your own bathroom since I can guess you don't want to share with the boys, I'll leave you to get unpacked and maybe Seamus could show you around?" It sounded more like an order than a suggestion and then she was gone.

"She seems nice," I grinned as I placed my bag for the week onto the bed.

Seamus scratched his neck, "yeah, but she can be scary when she wants to be - she has to be with a son like Fergus,"

"Makes sense, so when's Dean arriving?"

"Well, Dean will arrive tomorrow since he's coming back from Germany today." Seamus told me.

"So it's just you and me today then?"

"Yep! Wait till you see the library, it's bigger than the one at Hogwarts!"

We explored the entire house and in total, I counted a total of 15 bedrooms and a bathroom for each one, 1 extremely large library organised into genres then alphabetically, a living room that took up an entire floor and a kitchen and dining room. Every room, despite the size, had a cosy feel to them which made me love the house even more. As soon as we had reached the first floor, Fergus was waiting with a grin on his face to tell us that dinner was ready. I had a scary feeling that Fergus never once stopped smiling.

I greeted Seamus' parents in the hall before we all sat down at the large table full of Seamus' relatives. Needless to say I felt rather left out not being Irish.

I ended up sitting next to Seamus' grandmother and Seamus. She was interested about my father being my werewolf which I answered through kindness - it was no secret anymore after all.

"Gran, stop asking her about that!" Seamus interrupted and I had to hide a smile as she grumbled something then turned away. "Sorry about her, she loves learning about that sort of stuff," He explained.

"Its fine, I guess I should get used to it now his secret is out." I shrugged.

"Listen, after dinner, I want to show you something in the garden - it's brilliant at this time of year!"

Once we helped to put everything away and everyone was satisfied that they had introduced themselves to me, Seamus and I ventured into the garden (as big as the mansion) and led me to the end where the forest grew into the garden.

"There are fairies in there, they often come out at this time of year if they see people around,"

"Really? Your house is so cool, Seamus." And I meant it.

He whistled a small tune then told me to wait, so we did. It took a minute or so before anything happened.

"Look!" He pointed to where a small glow in the distance was getting gradually brighter the closer it got. Soon I could make out small figures behind the trees until they stopped nearby and peeked out from behind the trees curiously.

"It's Seamus and I bring a good friend of mine, I wanted to show her the amazing show you guys can put on!" Seamus quickly complimented them - it was common knowledge that the quickest way to get a fairy to do something is to shamelessly compliment them.

The fairies nodded and flew past us into the sky where more fairies were beginning to appear.

Then it was like they were exploding - they looked like fireworks but enchanted. We sat down on the grass and admired the show.

They 'exploded' in so many colours and types and if a spark landed on me, it gave me a warm feeling.

Seamus told me about how he discovered them when he was about five and couldn't stop complimenting them in amazement so naturally they loved him.

I laughed at this even though it was true.

Fergus joined us and kept telling me 'interesting facts about fairies' which I already knew thanks to my dad but I decided to humour him.

Too soon, the show ended and the fairies disappeared again in a blink of an eye.

"That was beautiful..." I said still in awe at what I just saw.

"Wasn't it just?" Fergus replied and I could practically hear Seamus' eye roll.

"Well, Dean is getting here at 8 tomorrow so we better get a good night's sleep," he stood up abruptly and helped me up and we walked away from Fergus who stood up and watched us leave without following.

"Fergus _really _annoys me sometimes," Seamus muttered as we walked to the top floor,

"Not everyone in the families is great, are they?" I tried to sympathise.

"But he's almost 17! Why is he hanging around with us when he probably has friends of his own to annoy?" Seamus complained.

"Just let him have his fun, I'm sure he'll leave us alone once Dean's arrived!"

I was wrong, but Dean and I didn't mind even though Seamus did.

We left to go to the world Quidditch cup on 22nd with Fergus being our 'guardian' for the night.

We had a tent which was bigger on the inside decorated in Irish colours. Dean and I thought it would be funny to pretend to be Irish.

This annoyed Seamus and Fergus to no end but passing Irish people thought we were Irish! I don't think Seamus and Fergus realised just how alike they were when they were both in their element. Their movements were synchronised and everything!

We spotted a group of gingers on the campsite and recognised them as the Weasley's but we couldn't say hi because there was way too many people in the way and the game was about to start soon when we saw them.

We quickly purchased Irish merchandise and found our seats in the crowd.

I sat in between Seamus and Dean who were both ecstatic when the teams flew into the stadium.

It was touch and go halfway through and then Krum (the Bulgarian seeker) managed to catch the snitch BUT Ireland won!

That night, I discovered just how well the Irish can party. They had fireworks of every kind and everyone had fun.

However, the celebrations that had gone on well into the night were interrupted by death eaters. Yes, you read correctly, _death eaters_.

Turns out Fergus was a great fighter and managed to defend us all as we backed away to safety leaving the tent behind. Unfortunately, because he hadn't passed his apparition test yet, we couldn't get back through apparition.

So the evening was spent hiding out in the woods as we waited for the death eaters to leave. I should've been scared but I was mainly worried as to how many had attacked and _why_ they had attacked. The guys seemed the same so we spent a good deal of time just coming up with ideas on why they had attacked each becoming more and more darker so we stopped. Eventually the screaming stopped and we ventured out of the forest only to see the _dark mark _in the sky. This night was just getting better. Fergus made it his mission to find out what happened instead of trying to return back to a _safe_ Ireland.

Turns out the death eaters had scattered after seeing the dark mark supposedly made by Barty Crouch Jr.

"FREYA." I heard in the distance and I saw my dad running over looking distraught but relieved.

"Dad?! What are you doing here?!" I asked once he was within hearing distance.

"Heard the commotion on the radio and came over to make sure you were ok. Hello, you too! And who are you?" He asked looking expectantly at Fergus.

"Fergus!" He did an elaborate bow and I saw Seamus roll his eyes.

"He's my cousin, sir." Seamus added.

"I see! Well, I guess it's up to me to take you lot back to Ireland – your parents are worried sick, Seamus – I went there first to see if you had got back. Right! Who wants to go first? Fergus?" He held out his hand and Fergus took it and they were gone.

"Your dad really is brilliant." Dean said in awe and I shrugged,

"I know!" I grinned back.

"Who's next? Dean?" My dad's voice asked and Dean left.

My dad took longer this time.

"So..." Seamus tried to start conversation. How does one begin a conversation after surviving a death eater attack?

"Seamus!" My dad held out his hand and winked at me before they both left and now I felt awkward.

I looked around and saw fires still left blazing and people all around recovering. It looked dreadful – not like the scene a few hours ago.

"Freya? Ready?" My dad appeared in front of me and I nodded, taking his hand and I felt the sensation of being squeezed too much before it stopped and we were back at Seamus' family's house.

We stumbled into a house that had erupted in relieved sighs as soon as they saw us. Seamus and Fergus were both being squashed by their respective mothers while Dean explained what happened to Seamus' gran.

I shared a look with my dad; He wanted to take me back home where he could keep an eye on me. I shook my head and he sighed before bringing me into a hug.

"I'll be back to pick you up on Saturday, alright?" He whispered and said his goodbyes to everyone before leaving.

Everyone went to bed pretty quickly after that but I couldn't sleep - a first since normally I sleep for at least two hours easily. If I had been in my own house, I wouldn't have hesitated to take a walk around the house but I didn't want to risk it here. I heard faint snoring across the hallway from Seamus' room and wondered who snored – probably Seamus.

*~*

The next day we decided to play a Quidditch game of our own since their garden was so huge and there weren't any muggles for miles. Fergus was a beater and Seamus, Dean and I were chasers. It was a basic form of Quidditch without a snitch and was just some fun with everyone rotating positions every 5 points.

Turns out I am a great chaser but I would never try for the team, Dean was better than me in opinion. He begged to differ.

We also got our Hogwarts letters the next day and the first thing that stood out was '_Please bring formal attire_.'

"What's this about formal attire?!" I exclaimed terrified about what they had planned even though it was probably a dance but I'd rather make a speech on werewolves than go to a dance. And that _is_ terrifying.

"Who knows?" Seamus answered reading his own letter with a frown.

"Maybe it's a dance?" Dean mused and I shuddered. "What?"

"Hate them." I replied.

Seamus' mother who was listening in clapped her hands in excitement. "This is brilliant! A dance..." Her eyes glazed over.

"Err, mam?" Seamus waved his hand in front of her face and she snapped out of it.

"Well we must definitely find a charming suit for you!" Then she left without another word smiling to herself.

We looked in Seamus' library for anything about a dance event at Hogwarts but we found nothing. Looks like Dean was wrong or that there wasn't much record of it.

When Saturday arrived my dad and Dean's mother came over to pick us up but not before we had a massive lunch thanks to Evelyn.

I sat next to Fergus for the lunch near the end of the table while my dad sat at the other end discussing something with Seamus and Dean's parents. Seamus and Dean sat opposite me.

The entire dinner was spent laughing at Fergus' jokes which were actually pretty good but I couldn't help thinking that the Weasley twins had better ones.

As I was about to leave she enveloped me into a hug and thanked me for keeping Fergus quiet which I was slightly confused at but before I could protest Fergus was pulling her away and waving goodbye.

My dad thanked them all profusely for the lunch and I just grinned nodding along while the family just protested it was nothing – which it probably was seeing as it was a big family already.

With my suitcase in my hands I managed a quick, "Bye guys!" before my dad apparated us back _home._ That's a _long_ distance.

When we got back I felt incredibly weak and fell.

"I th-thought we were going t-to the station?!" I managed to splutter out.

"Yes well, I decided to take a more direct route." My dad brushed his outfit down and helped me up as if travelling to another country was nothing. "It's not too bad after the first go," he grinned.

"Oh, really," I rolled my eyes and followed him back into the house as best as I could without showing how weak I was feeling even though I was gradually gaining more strength in my legs with each step.

"So that Fergus boy, eh?" My dad asked as soon as he closed the door behind me.

Oh dear, "Before you start, I hardly talked to him!"

"Didn't look like it at lunch!" My dad was clearly enjoying this.

"Just because he sat next to me!"

"Sure, sure..."

I tried to give him my most terrifying glare but since I don't glare often, it probably wasn't successful since he laughed instead.

"If you're finished concentrating on my face, we're going to Diagon Alley later since your letter should've arrived this week!"

"Did you ever have a ball at Hogwarts?" I asked trying to catch him of guard.

"No... Why?" He was definitely confused.

"Well, we need to bring formal attire with us this year and Dean thought it would be a dance thing but we couldn't find anything about it." I quickly explained as I found my letter within my bag and showed him.

He raised an eyebrow as he read it over then grinned at me. "A dance, eh?"

"I don't know!"

"All the boys will be lining up to take you! Especially Seamus..." He trailed off still grinned and my eyes widened.

"He wouldn't!"

Would he?

*~*

It took an entire afternoon to find a dress - I didn't think I was that picky until today and by the end of it my dad was exhausted as I was and he didn't have to do much!

My dad had decided that a witch dress would be much nicer and thankfully there was a dress shop in Diagon alley - we had shopped for everything else first saving the dress for last.

For starters, there was thousands in the shop, all colour coded so my dad decided that I should go with red since I was a Gryffindor.

I wasn't so keen so I attempted to show him the purple ones.

In the end we settled on a purple dress **(A.N I really don't know how to explain it so I guess you're going to have to use your imaginations instead!)** I saw Hermione in the shop also and she brought a blue dress - she helped me find mine while my dad talked to her parents about Hogwarts and Hermione's brilliance in DADA.

"Oh I really hope it's a dance!" Hermione told me as we left the store.

"Hmm..." I didn't want to say I was not excited.

Thankfully she didn't notice my hesitance to praise the unknown event and we said goodbye.

"You should be excited for this!" My dad exclaimed when we got back to the house.

"But if it's a dance - I hate dancing!"

"Only because you've never had anyone to dance with. You used to be a lovely dancer as a child, remember? I even took you for ballet lessons!"

"That's ballet though!" I had to admit; I did love to dance back then so there was no reason to hate it now, was there?

"I think you're against the idea of someone dancing with you," My dad grinned and handed me my stuff.

The last few day he wouldn't stop trying to persuade me of the idea of a dance and even Sirius was excited when I told him.

On the last night, my dad arranged for Sirius to talk to us via the fireplace and they both teamed up to tell me of how many people will be lining up to ask me; I wished that my dad was one of those fathers who would be shocked at the idea of their daughter hanging out with guys. I guess that got blown out of the window when he saw that mostly all my friends were guys minus Hermione and Luna.

"Keep safe!" Sirius bid farewell and it was just me and my dad again.

"Better get a good night's sleep since you'll be getting up early tomorrow." My dad noted and I sighed.

My room was now empty since it had all been packed up and all I had to look at was the night sky above me. I had grown rather attached to the ceiling and I would miss it at Hogwarts but then again, I would also miss my dad since he didn't have the DADA job anymore. I had made a year's supply of the wolfsbane potion and told him the amount to take. It made me feel better knowing he would be safe and not paranoid about killing anyone.

So when the next morning arrived and we arrived at the station I hugged him goodbye and went on to the train to find a good compartment. Luna was sitting in a compartment by herself and smiled at me.

"I'm so sorry about not sitting with you last time!" I began as I opened the door.

"It's ok, I sat with Ginny," she smiled.

"So how was your weekend?" I asked as I sat down.

"I went to Russia to look for Fergdows but we couldn't find any," she shrugged.

"What's a Fergdows?" This was a new one.

"A Fergdow." She corrected, "is small creature that makes people forget the last ten seconds. They are everywhere but Russia is particularly full of them." She told me and showed me a picture of them that was in the Quibbler she had been reading.

It looked like a cat that's fur was like a crocodile.

"Oh," I simply said not sure what else to say.

A comfortable silence fell upon us for a while as we watched the train leave the station and eventually enter the British countryside.

"Did you get told to bring formal attire this year?' I asked thinking of the dance we will most likely be having.

"No, did you?" Her eyes widened with curiosity as she put down the quibbler.

"Yes, Dean thinks it may be a dance and he's probably right."

"What a strange idea," Luna said, "I wonder if it is just your year or more? The year above you certainly didn't have a dance or it was kept really secret."

"I don't know, but I hope it isn't a dance," I confessed.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't like the idea of dancing with someone. I don't mind dancing on my own but with someone else..." I trailed off.

"That's not a very good reason to not go to a dance, Freya, I'm sure someone will ask you and you will say yes." Luna practically lectured me.

"We don't know it's a dance yet!" I protested but I had a gut feeling it was.

The journey was quick despite my dreading of a dance and half way through, Fred and George arrived to ask if we had been asked to bring formal attire. Turns out year four and upwards had been asked to bring it and everyone thought it was a dance but no-one was quite sure.

"This'll be an interesting year then!" George winked at me and they both left.

"Do you think he'll ask you?" Luna asked and I raised an eyebrow.

"Who?"

"George, of course!"

I smiled, "he wouldn't ask me, he'll probably ask Katie or Alicia, or someone else he talks to and hangs out with on a regular basis," I explained.

"I think he will." Luna decided.

Whether he did or not would be answered further on in the year when we find out what the event actually IS.


	12. Owlery visits and Marauder secrets

The Hogwarts train finally arrived at Hogsmeade where it was so stormy outside, I was amazed I could even walk (well run) to safety within a Threstral (which I still couldn't see) drawn carriage with Luna.

"The Threstrals seem to be enjoying the weather." She remarked staring out of the window as she dried herself off with a drying charm then did the same to me because I had never bothered to learn the spell.

We had to wait for everyone to get off the carriage and as we waited Seamus, Dean and Neville joined us in the carriage soaking wet.

"Hello!" Seamus beamed once he saw me in the carriage as he slumped down next to me. He only noticed that Luna was in the carriage once he sat down and waved.

"Move over, Seamus!" Dean grinned before I could even reply and I was soon squashed against the wall. Neville sat down next to Luna somewhat awkwardly who smiled in greeting.

"Would you like me to dry you off?" Luna asked Neville who nodded. She performed the spell on him and Neville sighed in relief.

"Thank you, Luna!"

I realised this was probably the first time that Luna was around all three of the guys at the same time.

"Seamus? Dean?" Luna asked and they both nodded too and soon everyone was dry and being squashed against a wall wasn't _as_ bad. I made a mental note that we should all probably learn that drying charm soon.

"I feel sorry for the first years, you know." Seamus mused and everyone nodded in agreement.

"They won't even get to see Hogwarts properly!" Dean exclaimed and we all frowned then I started thinking of the first time I saw Hogwarts and I'm pretty sure everyone else was thinking the same thing.

I had been the last to arrive to the boats and had almost missed Hagrid until a 7th year told me which way to go and so I was put into a boat with Neville who became my first friend. I had been by myself on the train which sounds quite crazy to me now considering how crowded it gets but I guess now it was because of my clothes maybe. Since my dad hadn't exactly got much money around that time, we had just about enough to get my supplies let alone clothes that looked acceptable so I had boarded the Hogwarts express in a rather worn jumper and some old jeans that had frayed at the ends. It didn't matter that much to me though because my dad had given me a diary of sorts that the Marauders had used on a daily basis for their pranks so I didn't feel so alone and the journey flew by - the book had at least 5 years worth of pranks and had been magically extended but concealed at the same time if that makes sense. I should probably give some ideas to Fred and George and claim them as my own...

We chatted away for the rest of the journey about our holidays and such and soon we arrived at the castle and despite being dry, got completely drenched once again by the time we got into the warm haven of Hogwarts. Luna quickly performed the drying charm and smiled airily at the entrance hall and said "I'm so glad we're back here, aren't you?"

We all agreed and made our way into the great hall which already had a fair amount of people inside and bid a farewell of sorts to Luna before finding a good place on the table to sit.

"We should really talk to Luna more, you know," Dean suggested and I nodded.

"She's really nice when you get to know her!" I defended seeing Seamus and Neville's surprised looks.

"Ok! Ok!" Seamus relented and Neville just nodded looking guilty.

"I'm sure she'll be glad to sit with us!" I grinned and they agreed.

We took up thinking of theories of what the formal attire could be again and the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan sat next to us and joined in.

"Our brother knows something else too and he wouldn't tell us!" Fred complained resting his head on his hand.

"It's definitely something big, he said he was going to try and get time off to see it!" George explained further and I wondered what it could even be.

"My money is on a weird sister's concert." Lee stated and we all laughed.

"That would be rather awesome..." Seamus trailed off with awe - he was a weird sister's fan although not to the extent some people were but he was still a big fan.

Dumbledore greeted the hall quickly and allowed the food to appear that had been made by the elves and we all dug in glad to finally have a proper meal after being on a train all day.

Then Dumbledore dropped the news of the Triwizard tournament starting again but only 17 year olds and up could try out for it which led to a massive rant from Fred and George while Lee just laughed. I was secretly glad they couldn't try out for it - according to Dumbledore there was a death toll from the tournament which led to it being cancelled in the first place and I don't think I could handle any of them dying.

Turns out Beauxbatons and Durmstrang - two other wizarding schools in other countries were going to arrive here in October. Only a month to have to ourselves it seemed before some French girls and Scandinavian boys turned up. Hooray?

Oh and our new defence against the dark arts teacher made a dramatic entrance too - Mad eye moody - known for his great tactics and bravery. I had conflicting thoughts about wanting to meet him or not due to the amount of respect I had for him thanks to my father.

We walked back to the common room wondering what sort of tasks will be in the tournament then said goodnight and went to our respective dormitories. I was greeted by Lavender and Parvarti before they went back to gossiping about the Durmstrang boys already. I internally rolled my eyes and got into my pyjamas and brushed my teeth and whatnot. I talked to Hermione for a short while when she arrived about our holidays and the Triwizard tournament a little bit before we went to sleep.

The next morning I woke up bright and early as usual and, after getting ready, went into the common room in hopes of finding something that had been left behind or a notice on the board. There was no notice but surprisingly a witch weekly so I decided to read that for a bit and once I finished, I had found out that a Quidditch player was involved in a love triangle (apparently), there was a new club opening in London that was going to be expensive by the looks of it and my horoscope told me that love was just around the corner and a secret admirer would come forward in the next few days - as if.

It was soon a reasonable time to go down to breakfast so leaving the witch weekly where I had found it for the owner, I made my way to the great hall where there were a few people already there already thankfully.

After a while of eating on my own, Neville joined me and we talked about how long we reckoned Mad Eye Moody would last.

"Mr Longbottom, Miss Lupin," Professor McGonagall interrupted to give us our timetables, then after a pause, gave us Seamus' and Dean's then walked away again.

"Oh lovely..." I said observing the timetable then looked at Neville, Dean and Seamus' - we all had identical timetables."

"Morning!" Seamus greeted cheerfully sitting down next to me and Dean next to Neville. "Lovely day isn't it? Is that my timetable? Thanks!" He grabbed the timetable before I could register what was happening. Dean just rolled his eyes and took his own, gave it a once over then helped himself to some breakfast.

"We've got the same timetable!" Seamus observed looking too close for comfort over my shoulder.

"So have Dean and Neville! I don't know how I'm going to survive being surrounded by you lot for the rest of the year!" I exclaimed mockingly and Seamus frowned and nudged me.

The nudge fight lasted a total of five minutes before Dean and Neville decided it was getting out of hand and stopped us before we were going to end up with bruises.

The lessons for the rest of the week went by without much change from last year except for Professor Moody who managed to terrify the class by showing us the three unforgivable curses. Can't wait for next lesson! (_She says sarcastically_)

"Oi, Lupin!" I heard someone yell as I walked to the owlery on the Friday after Transfiguration. It was George.

"Hello, George?" I greeted as more of a question than anything.

"Where you going?"

"Owlery, you?"

"Me too!" He grinned, "Mind if I tag along?"

"Of course not!" I hoped he wouldn't see the letter I had written to Sirius when we got there - I had written Padfoot on the letter and we all know how much he worshipped them. I also had a letter to my dad making sure he was updated on my life so far and about the Triwizard tournament in case he didn't already know about it.

"So this tournament, eh?" George made conversation and I rolled my eyes.

"It's a bit silly, but I'm glad it's over 17's," I watched George give a face of mock horror and laughed.

"But don't you want me to bring pride to our school and show everyone just how amazing I truly am?" George bragged puffing out his chest.

"Well if you put it like that... no." I smirked as we walked out of the castle onto the grounds and watched an owl fly back to the owlery where we were also heading.

"It's not fair, Faye!" George began to whine and I just ignored him.

George soon realised I was ignoring him though and said, "The prize is so much money! Everyone could do with that!"

I continued to ignore him even though I agreed.

"What about..." George paused for a moment, "If the tasks involved something cool like the puzzles that Harry, Ron and Hermione went through to get the philosophers stone? That's not exactly dangerous is it?"

"I still can't believe first years got past high security measures," I shook my head and George grinned victoriously at getting me to reply.

"So who are you sending a letter to?" George tactically changed the subject as we approached the owlery and began walking up the large amount of steps.

"My dad, you?" I didn't tell him about the other letter I had in my pocket. I had written my dad and Sirius practically identical letters about the Triwizard tournament, I figured they wouldn't see each other's letters anyway.

"Mum will be sending a howler if I don't send a letter every other week to tell her me and ickle Freddie are ok!" George winked and opened the door for me. I felt slight warmth in my cheeks as I entered the room and was immediately faced with poop on my face.

"Great." I mumbled wondering just how I was going to get it out. I heard George let out a small wince in sympathy.

"Happens to the best of us, Faye, happened to me in first year - that was nightmare to get out - but you're in safe hands now! I happen to be a master at getting unusual mixtures off people with ease," George assured me and I raised an eyebrow but then stopped, feeling the poop move and shuddered and told George to quickly get on with it. He grinned, waved his wand as me muttered the spell under his breath, looking into my eyes so deeply the entire time, I didn't even notice the poop had gone. An owl squawked above us and we both jolted out of our frozen state and George scratched his neck, and winked and went to find an owl. I blinked and called for Margo being too lazy to find him myself and soon enough he flew down onto my arm and cooed softly. I gave him an owl treat and handed him the two letters when George was busy tying his own letter to an owl. I quickly tied my own to Margo. "Have a nice journey, Margo!" I whispered under my breath, "Tell me how the weather is will you?" I stroked his head one last time before letting him fly off with George's owl just behind him.

"Wow, look at the sunset!" I exclaimed looking out of one of the windows. I didn't even realise what time it was but it was definitely later that I thought and George joined me at the small window.

"That is rather... Beautiful..." He trailed off as I examined the different shades of pink blend in with one another. "Shouldn't the feast be starting soon?" George asked suddenly and I frowned.

"Probably... Better get going then, shall we?" I said walking towards the door, George walked quicker and opened the door, "After you milady!" George saluted and I felt my cheeks heat up again slightly as we walked back outside.

"I love sunsets," I said suddenly as we walked across the bridge with a full view of the sunset, "me too," he agreed.

The rest of the journey was quite silent but it was companionable silence, George seemed to be thinking hard about something so I decided to let him be and we parted to our different groups once we entered the hall where dinner was just beginning.

"What were you doing with Weasley?" Seamus asked me pretty much immediately after I sat down and Dean rolled his eyes.

"At the owlery, bumped into him on the way, 'hey Freya' is a normal greeting, you know!" I told him, helping myself to some chicken from the middle of the table.

"Sorry..." Seamus mumbled and I grinned.

"So Neville," I said turning to the person in question, "what's your opinion of mad eye moody?"

"He's very sadistic, isn't he?" Neville frowned and I sighed sympathetically. The man had cast the cruciatus curse on a spider, all the while looking at Neville and it was no secret that his parents were currently in St Mungos thanks to Bellatrix. His mother doesn't even recognise him and that's the sad thing, just gives him sweet wrappers - Neville kept every single one. He told me one day in year two when it was just us on the grounds and it gave me hope that maybe she'll remember one day along with his father.

"He turned Malfoy into a ferret though, remember!" Dean compromised and I raised an eyebrow, "he did WHAT?"

"Malfoy was insulting harry as he usually does and Moody appears from nowhere and turns him into a ferret!" Dean explained.

"Of course, McGonagall got a bit mad..." Seamus added.

"Makes sense - she's got morals unlike him." I looked over to the teacher table where she was having a conversation with Hagrid about something. I looked to where Mad eye moody sat and watched his false eye whiz around in its socket until it stared at me and I immediately went back to staring at my food feeling uncomfortable.

It wasn't until a week later that anything significant happened. This came in the form of the Weasley twins and Lee (as if it would be anyone else) who were planning a prank when I walked into the common room really early/late due to not being able to sleep.

"Lupin!" Fred greeted warmly while George and Lee grinned. "Come hither, child!"

I rolled my eyes and walked over, "what are you planning today?" I asked looking over the various sweet wrappers on the table.

"Well," Lee replied, "we haven't given Snape a warm greeting yet and figured we should before he begins to think we've forgotten him!"

"The plan is..." George explained the plan and soon we were outside professor Snape's office holding enchanted paint bombs. I was only holding one, as much as I liked the prank, I couldn't bring myself to put misery upon the poor man but then again, he was the one who told the entire Slytherin table about my dad being a werewolf... I took another paint bomb from the pile on the ground and got ready to throw them.

"Fred and I will go ahead and wake up the slimy haired git, you guys follow behind us," George ordered in captain mode. We all nodded and followed the twins into the office as quietly as we could.

"WAKEY WAKEY, SNAPEY!" Fred and George suddenly yelled and Snape was up in an instant. Too bad Fred and George had already thrown their ammo as they shouted for him to wake up so he sat up to come face to face with two paint bombs.

"FIRE!" George commanded and we all threw the remaining paint bombs. My two managed to hit him square in the face (I was very proud).

"_YOU IMBECILES_." Snape managed to yell after we ran out of ammo, and ran out of the office before he could react.

As we ran, I heard footsteps behind us and I was suddenly yanked into a passageway by George who shushed me. We waited for the footsteps to pass and I realised that Fred and Lee had disappeared.

"Where's Fred and Lee?" I asked and George shrugged, "we almost always get separated, come on, we better get back to the common room before Snape finds us!" George's eyes practically lit up at that thought and it made realise just how much he loved pranking and be glad that I wasn't on his bad side.

George began to lead the way back chatting conversationally about how well the prank had gone and how he couldn't wait to see him at breakfast - Did I mention that the paint had a permanent charm on it?

We arrived at the common room last and Fred and Lee greeted us dramatically,

"We're so glad you're back!"

"We thought you had died!"

They grinned and initiated high fives with us which I happily did.

Fred suddenly yawned dramatically, "I'm shattered!"

Lee and George nodded in agreement and they all went to bed, all winking at me as they left.

Once I was alone I decided to uncover the marauders prank log book to pass the time until breakfast because I had no chance at sleeping with adrenaline rushing through me from the prank.

By the time 6am arrived I had read about 30 detailed pranks and James potter saying how hot Lily Evans was about 20 times. I wonder what Harry would say if he knew how big of a crush his dad had on his mum during school...

I also reread a passage that I had completely forgotten about. On top of the astronomy tower, James suddenly had an idea that they should make a deck that only they knew about. This was in 7th year so naturally they already knew plenty of spells and within the week, it was finished, concealed and most definitely safe. They even put 4 bean bags up there! I was definitely going to be checking this out soon.

Dumbledore was walking into the Great hall when I arrived and greeted me good morning, "Professor Snape isn't very happy, You might want to skip his lesson today, let's get breakfast started shall we?" Dumbledore winked as I wondered how he knew I was involved until I realised Snape had probably gone and told him. I watched as the tables filled with rows of toast and the occasional cereal box and bowls along with plates and spoons.

Once Seamus, Dean and Neville arrived, I told them about the prank I had helped to pull, which they laughed about with me and I saw Professor Snape walk in and give me a death glare as he walked up to the teachers table. He was sadly spotless.

"I think Dumbledore has given me permission to skip double potions today," I added looking away from his glare.

"Good idea," Seamus agreed, "we'll make sure to give you the homework though!"

I glared at him and he just grinned back. "Wouldn't want you to fall behind!"

"Am I going to end up helping you on homework for a lesson I wasn't there for?"

"... Maybe," Seamus admitted and Dean smirked, "well I shall try and concentrate extra hard this time ok?"

"Thanks, Dean; I can always rely on you!" I said in what I hoped was sincere because I did mean it.

Fred scruffed my hair as he George and Lee walked by and I exclaimed a quick 'hey!' As I patted it down again. George winked on Fred's behalf as they walked by and I heard myself growling.

"Woah there, Faye!" Seamus exclaimed and I grinned sheepishly, "sorry!"

I watched Fred and George mutter something, taking quick glances at Snape who was clearly not amused.

Seamus, Dean, Neville and I all headed to divination for the first lesson of the day and let me tell you – it wasn't very interesting and once it was finished, I was one of the first people out of there.

I realised I had double potions next and decided to go to the library to read up on any supposed mythological beasts I could find. I said goodbye to my friends and headed over there.

I hadn't entered the library yet since I had arrived and I was glad to be met by a silence that can only be achieved in libraries - the kind where you can still hear people but in a way that they don't disturb you. I greeted Madam Pince on the way on and she muttered a quiet 'hello' clearly wanting me to stop talking to her so I did. I found the creatures section, pulled out a random 10 books and found a comfortable seat to begin reading.

10 books later, I know knew that unicorns used to be used by the greatest wizards of the century to travel as they were the only people, the unicorns deemed worthy. Then a wizard misused his power and the unicorns disappeared for a while.

Isn't history fun in the wizard world? That is, if you don't have professor Binns telling you the facts.

Later that day, I remembered about the astronomy tower and headed up there hoping there was no-one around. I was in luck! Unfortunately I didn't know which knight was the correct knight. Apparently I just had to say "I solemnly swear I'm up for chilling" In front of the correct knight. This may take a while...

On the 5th knight, the knight moved aside slightly and the wall behind opened inwards. I quickly slip inside and watched the door smoothly fell back into place behind me as soon as I crossed the doorway. I noticed a small inscription on the wall saying '_Chilling accomplished_' It wasn't in my dad's or Sirius's writing and I doubt they would've let Pettigrew write it so I was staring at James Potter's handwriting – cool. This must be what to say to get out. I turned around to face the steps that twisted around what must've been the entire tower. They looked similar to the steps to the dormitory. I walked up them until I came to an opening with a brilliant view of the lake.

I saw the beanbags and couldn't help testing them out and boy were they comfy. I'm pretty sure they had been charmed to be extra comfy.

I must have fallen asleep because once I had woken, there was a sunset going on in front of me. I realised this must be the highest point of the entire castle and I looked around a bit more now I was suddenly feeling much more awake than I was earlier even though I didn't realise it. Even though I couldn't see around the entire tower from here but there was a back wall with a load of inscriptions and doodles on it such as one from James and Sirius:

_James Potter is the most handsome marauder_

_In your dreams, mate_

_And reality too!_

_Even Lily Potter doesn't think you're handsome, doesn't that say something?_

_At least I have someone to dote my affections on._

_Just because I have more admirers than you_

_That you ignore_

_Like you? _

_Touché_

(I'm pretty sure you can tell who is who)

There was also a picture of each of their animagus forms – drawn by James - each with something that they each felt needed to be added:

_James, as a stag had a crown on his head looking important._

_Sirius as a dog was sitting on a pile of food and chucking a piece of bread at James' crown. _

_My dad as a wolf who was yelling at Sirius and James to stop messing around. _

_... And Pettigrew as a rat which had clearly been drawn when he wasn't there because he was bowing to the other three. _

There was also a small window which looked down upon the floor of the astronomy tower.

I realised that dinner was probably beginning and since there was no-one below, I quickly made my way back out, making sure to say 'Chilling Accomplished' to open the door.

A few days passed without much excitement apart from Hermione's birthday in which it was my turn to jump on her bed excited as I shoved her present from me in her face. She woke up slightly dazed but quickly woke up seeing the small pile of presents by her bed.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I yelled and she quickly shushed me as we heard a grumble across the room which soon returned to a snore – definitely Lavender.

"Now open my present." I demanded as she sat up and got comfortable. She unwrapped it she gasped. It was a pair of earrings I had spotted from the dress store back in Diagon Alley that Hermione had gazed at as much as she could subtly but it didn't work. I returned to the shop later on to get it her being the nice friend I am and also, since I didn't often get presents for girls, I never exactly knew what to get.

"Was I too obvious?" Hermione smiled tracing the flower design.

"Maybe a little," I replied.

"Oh thank you so much!" She hugged me and then opened some more presents which had stuff such as books and notebooks.

Ron and Harry hadn't exactly been inventive and had given her chocolate frogs (Ron) and a book on advanced spells (Harry).

Another event that had happened was that once again, on the way to the owlery, I met George who I had seen in the distance talking with Fred almost in a distressed way until he left grinning and George walked back to meet me almost too confidently.

"Why, hello there!" He winked and I rolled my eyes.

"Where's Fred off to?" I asked.

"To bug Angelina, I expect," He remarked with a grin. "What about you?"

"To the owlery, dad finally replied to me," which was true - No letter to Sirius this time. In the letter to my Dad I had told him about how I had visited the chill out zone place on the astronomy tower after rereading the book they had made. In his reply before he had told me that he did know vaguely about the Triwizard tournament but not enough to be sure.

"What a coincidence! I'm going that way too!" George exclaimed a little too excitedly that I raised an eyebrow.

"The owlery isn't that exciting."

"Oh, but it is," George grinned and I couldn't help wonder if he was hinting at something else but I couldn't be sure.

We discussed the prank on Snape and how he had completely lost his temper with Fred, George and Lee in potions, giving them a month's detentions and 20 points each.

"You must be the only people that can get away with a huge loss of points," I mused and George nodded, "Unlike Potter and pals, eh?"

"You were just as bad as everyone else!" I argued.

"Yeah well... got a reputation to keep, you know!" He objected and even I knew that was a terrible comeback.

We reached the owlery and George opened the door and said, "Ladies first, oh and watch out for overhead owl poop!" He grinned as I hit him in the arm – bad mistake.

"Oww! Merlin, you have arms of steel!" I exclaimed.

"Well a legendary wizard such as me needs to keep strong for Quidditch!" He boasted and I laughed pretending not to show that my hand was in serious pain.

"You know, the last person who tried that had a broken wrist..." George said more seriously.

I tried to wave him off but realised I used the hand that was in pain and I cursed while George laughed at my failure.

"Let me just send this letter and I'll be right back, ok?" He said concerned and gave me one last look over before walking up the stairs.

Once he was gone I quickly whistled down Margo who, over the summer, I had spent a good few days teaching to respond to this because I can never be bothered to find him in the owlery, lazy I know but hey – it's better today, right?

I simply let Margo take the letter in his mouth and wished him a good time in whatever sunny country he had to travel to he gave a muffled hoot and nuzzled me before taking flight.

George swiftly arrived back again a minute later, "Can I see your hand?" He asked and I nodded, holding out the hand and looking down to see it had swollen slightly.

"Oh that's bloody brilliant." I muttered, "I can see the questions now, 'How did you break it?' they'll say and I'll have to say I punched bloody George Weasley's arm made of steel."

George snorted and muttered a spell under his breath as he waved his wand over my hand. I watched as the swelling went down in amazement.

"You have some skill, thinking of becoming a healer anytime soon?" I joked as I flexed my newly fixed hand.

"Hospitals and I don't mix; besides, Merlin knows how many accidents Fred and I have been in, we need spells like this to survive!" He didn't let go of my hand and I reluctantly let go feeling awkward, George cleared his throat, "Right, letters sent! Lets continue our adventure to the ..." He paused for dramatic effect, "CASTLE! Dun, dun, dun..." He made a lopsided grin and I laughed at his terrible joke and followed him out of the owlery thankful that he broke the awkwardness.

It wasn't long before a notice was put up in the common room about the arrival of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang on the Friday which put everyone in a new mood. Seamus and Dean wouldn't stop imagining what the girls were like and they weren't the only ones. It seemed that pretty much every guy's conversation I heard involved the words 'Foreign' and 'ladies'. Of course, every girl's conversation I heard involved the words, 'guys' and 'hot'. I personally wanted to see if these schools were as nice as ours or stuck up and posh. The teachers were no different, the school began to look the nicest it had done in a long time and when the evening arrived potions was stopped half an hour early so everyone could dispose of their bags, put on a cloak and wait outside for the arrival of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.

Beauxbatons were first to arrive, in a large carriage drawn by winged horses with evil looking eyes. I made a mental note to never go near them – they had the largest hooves that I'm pretty sure could kill.

Seamus, next to me, was staring transfixed on the horses with a look of horror, "Their eyes..." He mumbled and Dean patted him sympathetically.

I overheard Fred not far away say to George and Lee about how he 'couldn't wait to try out his charms on new prey' and they agreed. I rolled my eyes.

It didn't take long for Durmstrang to arrive, by boat. I wondered how the giant squid had reacted to 'his' lake being disturbed by this large boat that was currently docking. I watched as a group of students walked out of the boat towards us and wondered if they had to wear their coats as part of their uniform. They looked warm for this weather though so I was slightly jealous.

Dumbledore greeted their headmaster, Professor Karkaroff who had a weird smile.

Then the biggest news of the night happened. Victor Krum, the Quidditch player, was officially going to be at Hogwarts.

"That's Krum!" I heard throughout the crowd, mainly from guys who were clearly Quidditch fanatics and were suddenly turning into fan girls at the site of him. Even Seamus and Dean were, I laughed to myself then listened to their discussion about how they might get to see him in action as we walked back inside.

**A/N I haven't written in a while, I apologise. I would say I will update more often but this year is full of EXAMS. That's right, those horrible things which people say matter but they don't. Oh the joy... If I'm honest I just want to skip to the announcement of the Yule Ball so maybe some boy attention can start! George has already begun to notice Faye it seems even though she's choosing to be oblivious, silly Faye. I'm curious who you guys think Faye should go to the Ball with... Just click that button below and tell me who! **

**George: It's clearly going to be me, look I'm so handsome.**

**Seamus: Puh-lease, She's known me longer!**

***insert unmentioned guy here*: Guys, Maybe it will be me!**

**George and Seamus: IN YOUR DREAMS, MATE.**

**Those are the main two I can't decide between – but maybe you think it should be someone else? :)**

**I hope my representation of the marauders in their last year of Hogwarts was good enough for you guys, I've never written them before xD**

**Anyways, tell me your thoughts please! Much appreciated :3**


	13. A Goblet, Lightsabers and Kitchen Talks

Inside, the beauxbatons girls had already sat down at the Ravenclaw table but they didn't look very happy, when I told the guys this they didn't seem to care and just told me that it was probably a long journey before turning back around to admire Viktor Krum. I left them by the door and started walking towards the Gryffindor table only to be stopped by George who looked so excited - I considered trying to dodge him but it was too late, he had already seen me.

"IT'S KRUM!" George exclaimed as he put an arm around my shoulders and pointed over.

"Yes, I can see." I replied my voice practically dripping with unneeded sarcasm but it was too late to change it and George didn't seem to notice.

"This is going to be a brilliant year now! Fred, Lee and I are going to try and persuade him to join us for a quidditch match!" He told me as he led me to the table.

I didn't bother trying to move his arm; I knew it would be a feeble fight. I almost ducked out if it but then I decided it was kind of nice so I stayed there. Judge me all you want

We found some seats and sat down as George pulled back his arm. Soon the rest of his group joined. "Look who's joined us!" Lee exclaimed sitting opposite me quickly followed by Fred.

"Didn't think our group was good enough for you!" Fred grinned who Angelina immediately fought my case as she sat down next to me.

"I don't see why it matters, Fred. Hey, Faye," she smiled and I said Hi back.

"So what's everyone's opinion on the newbie's then?" Alicia asked joining the group.

"Viktor." George answered.

"Freaking." Lee added.

"Krum." Fred finished.

"Honestly, guys, he's not exactly caring about anyone is he?" Angelina rolled her eyes as she watched the Durmstrang guys sit over at the Slytherin table. The rest of Viktor's fan club finally sat down looking dejected that he hadn't talked to them. Seamus and Dean sat further down and Seamus frowned when he realised I was sitting over here and I waved. He waved back, somewhat confused.

"... Therefore he will join us for quidditch!" Fred finished as I rejoined the conversation.

"He won't join you for quidditch. He hardly knows English." I responded and Fred just shook his head.

"Lupin, oh Lupin, dearest, he knows the word Quidditch doesn't he?" He patronised me and I decided to answer the same way.

"But, Freddie dearest, why would he want to play with such peasants as you, when he can play with people who can _actually_ play quidditch?" I batted my eyebrows for extra measure, feeling stupid after but Fred was left in stunned silence. I know I had hit below the belt but I didn't like people patronising me. Maybe it was because of an incident when I was 8 and had 'accidently' put chewing gum in this girls hair, cut out her face from a picture and stuck it on Cruella De Vil for insulting my dad. Oh yeah, I was definitely creative back then. I had to go to the school therapist every day for three weeks straight as she patronisingly asked me questions about why I had done such a thing to such an innocent girl. Turns out she was the girl's mother so let's just say she didn't want to speak to me almost as much as I didn't want to speak to her.

"He'll want to play quidditch with us, ok." Fred stated as he pouted slightly which caused Angelina, Alicia and I to laugh slightly at him while Lee and George seemed unsure which side to take.

Dumbledore greeted everyone and the food appeared on the table.

To say it was different was being subtle.

"What even is half of this stuff?" Lee asked us and most of us shrugged apart from Alicia who pointed out that some of it was French - there was some Bouillabaisse which didn't look very appetising and I'm pretty sure there were some snails further down the table. We assumed that some was Scandinavian or something for the Durmstrang students since they seemed excited at the dishes.

Most of us stuck with the British foods such as sausages and mash. However, Fred was brave enough to try a stew that we had no idea what was in it - we called it 'mystery stew' - needless to say the mystery was never discovered and Fred was left gagging. Lee tried it to see if it was terrible and loved it though so who knows?

George didn't try it despite us trying to make him. He clearly knew when to make sensible decisions even though Fred called him a Coward.

"Oi, Guys, there's a _veela _in our midst!" Lee observed as he watched a girl walk back from Harry and Ron with a dish in her hands.

"Poor Ron..." George said pityingly - Ron was currently supporting a full blown blushing face and we all made sympathetic sounds.

"Reckon there are many more?" Fred asked craning his neck to see the Beauxbatons students more clearly.

I watched as many boys were suddenly speechless around the hall as they stared at the newly discovered Veela who simply ignored them. I remembered my dad telling me about Veelas and that some can be particularly nasty if they want to be. On the most part they are really nice though.

Angelina face palmed as the guys discussed plans to win the ladies. "Can't you guys talk about pathetic catch up lines when we aren't around?"

"No can do, Angie, we have to observe our prey as we make tactics!"

"You make them sound like animals..." I said rolling my eyes.

Dumbledore interrupted us before Fred could come up with a witty remark though. Both he and George suddenly began to concentrate intently.

Dumbledore introduced Bartemius Crouch and Ludo Bagman to which George whispered to me that he and Fred had made a bet with him but he accidently gave them Leprechaun gold ('_ample opportunity to straighten things out!_'). Why they bothered to bet, I don't know.

Dumbledore gave a speech on the Triwizard cup, before telling Filch to bring the casket into the middle of the hall.

The cup that he pulled out of it wasn't very interesting apart from the _flames_ that were coming out of it – there were a lot of murmurs around the room at this.

"Wicked." Fred and George whispered in awe.

Dumbledore took the opportunity to insist on the age limit and how it would be impossible for anyone under the age of 17 to enter thanks to an age line around the cup. I'm pretty sure he glanced at Fred, George and Lee about 10 times as he said this.

Then he dismissed us to go to bed and Angelina began to ask me about how my dad was doing.

"Yeah, he's good, got a nice home to live in and such now - he has this potion," I said somewhat hesitantly, I still wasn't used to talking about his condition so openly, "so, yeah," I finished lamely.

"I'm so glad! We were worried weren't we, Alicia?" Angelina turned to the girl in question who had been walking alongside us who nodded,

"I can't believe Professor Snape disrespected his privacy like that!" She replied.

"I'm sure he had his reasons..." I trailed off watching as the Durmstrang students stared at Harry at the door before mad eye moody appeared and they disappeared.

"So are you going to try for the cup?" Alicia asked Angelina and my eyes widened.

"You can enter?!" I interrupted before she could reply and I felt heat in my cheeks and looked down.

Angelina laughed, "Yes I can enter and yes I will enter, mainly because Fred will kill me if I don't try! Besides, I can't die in it; they've made sure of it!"

When we got back to the common room, I left them there and headed up to the dormitory to get some sleep. I knew I could always sleep in the room above the astronomy tower but I knew I shouldn't make a habit of it.

My dad had sent me another letter telling me there was a secret compartment on the wall where there were some pillows and duvets in case they had had to hide out there. He also hinted that it can be very romantic there at night according to James and Sirius. You are so subtle, Dad.

Sirius on the other hand told me about how they came up with the idea and how it wouldn't show up in the marauders map since the created the room after the map so it would look like I was just in the astronomy tower if Harry saw me on it. Sirius also told me some memories from the room and how after a lot of persuasion, James managed to take Lily up there on a lot of occasions. Sirius encouraged me to show someone else the room since it could get lonely but make sure it's the right person.

Once I had woke up in the morning, I wasn't the first one down for once, already a load of seventh years and a few others were sitting around the room gazing at the goblet which had been placed in the middle of the room. Not soon after I arrived, the Durmstrang students walked in and every single one placed their names in the goblet and sat at the Slytherin table. I wondered who would be chosen from them to enter - I had a feeling it would end up being Krum.

Harry, Ron and Hermione entered earlier than normal too along Seamus and Dean who all gazed at the goblet in amazement (minus Hermione).

No-one seemed too bothered about the Halloween decorations this time around and I felt sorry for the teachers since they probably put a lot of effort into it - then again, they might have not.

"So you decided to sit with Weasley last night then, eh?" Seamus began as he helped himself to some bacon.

"Well you guys were nowhere to be seen and he offered so I thought 'why not?'" I shrugged.

"Fair enough," Seamus seemed satisfied which I thought strange that he cared but then again, he had never really liked the Weasley twins apparently.

Speaking of those two, Fred, George and Lee all ran in with big grins on each of their faces.

"Done it!" They told Harry and told them (which ended up being most of the room) about the ageing potion.

Fred was the first to jump in, followed by George both cheering until they were both flown backwards narrowly avoiding a shocked Lee.

Everyone laughed, but no-one laughed louder than Lee at the sight of their newly grown beards.

Dumbledore walked in and basically told them they were idiots for trying and they went to the hospital wing with Lee Jordan who was now practically crying.

"Ok, that was pretty hilarious!" Dean laughed and I nodded laughing also, even Seamus was laughing.

"Who else has tried entering then?" Seamus asked me and I told them about the Durmstrang students entering.

Harry, Ron and Hermione walked over and sat next to us.

"There's a rumour going around, Warrington got up early and put his name in, that big bloke from Slytherin who looks like a sloth," Dean told us in case we didn't know who he was. It was pretty impossible to miss him in the corridors though.

Harry shook his head, "we can't have a Slytherin champion!"

"I don't think he did, unless he woke up before me..." I added since I hadn't exactly entered the hall as it was being set up.

"And all the Hufflepuffs are talking about Diggory, but I wouldn't have thought he'd have wanted to risk his good looks." Seamus said so sarcastically I hit him and told him to 'stop being an arse'.

Angelina chose that moment to enter and place her own name in the goblet and joined our group sitting next to me, "well I've done it! Just put my name in!"

"You're kidding!" Ron said at the same time Dean said, "no way!"

"Are you seventeen then?" Harry asked to which I had to resist asking him why he asked such an obvious question.

Ron beat me to it though, "Course she is. Can't see a beard, can you?"

"I had my birthday last week," Angelina told Harry laughing slightly at Ron's comment.

"Well I'm really glad someone from Gryffindor's entering. I really hope you get it, Angelina!" Hermione told her to which she replied with a "thanks, Hermione!"

"Yeah, better you than Pretty-Boy Diggory," Seamus said with the same hidden intent as before to which I just hit him in the arm again, harder than last time, to make sure he got the message.

"What is your problem?! He's really nice!" I argued.

"He's self-centred!"

"Give an example." I crossed my arms and everyone turned to Seamus for his response clearly on my side.

"..." Seamus said nothing and just scowled.

"Cedric may have accidently knocked Seamus over in our first year and didn't say sorry," Dean said coming to Seamus' aid.

"You never told me that!" I said.

"Yeah well, you'd just jump to his side saying he probably didn't see me!" Seamus crossed his own arms.

"To be fair you were tiny and he's rather tall..." I noted.

"Fine, fine..." Seamus agreed clearly not wanting to see Cedric's good side after hating him from afar for so long.

Ron aptly changed the subject to Viktor Krum who he clearly begun to have an even larger obsession with now he was in the same vicinity as him.

"I hope I can find him for an autograph soon!" He said excitedly.

"What makes you think he'll give you one when he has ignored everyone who has asked so far? You're as bad as Fred and George!" Angelina told him to which he shrugged.

"They are my brothers after all..." He grinned and we all shook our heads with laughter.

"Where are they anyway?" Angelina asked.

"Let's just say they grew much older than they wanted to be..." Hermione told her.

"What happened?!"

"They tried to cross the age line with an ageing potion but it made them grow beards instead," I explained to her since Hermione's cryptic 'I-told-them-so' explanation hadn't worked.

"Oh dear..." She said taking it in before standing up, "I better go and check on them then!" And then she left once we told her they were at the hospital wing.

Harry, Ron and Hermione left next but not before seeing the Beauxbatons students enter their names into the goblet and leaving again.

"Don't stick around..." I muttered sarcastically watching as the door closed behind them.

"Reckon I could get one of them to talk to me?" Dean asked me and I shrugged,

"Depends which one you try out your gentlemanly charms on doesn't it? I'll help you figure out which one is the nicest if you want?" I offered and Dean laughed.

"I don't have a chance against an entire school of guys with the same idea as me!"

"You won't know unless you try!" I teased and Dean's face darkened in blush. "Seamus, I'll find you one too?" I asked and he shook his head.

"I don't speak French, it would be a disaster." He said.

"Don't even want to try?"

"No, I'm good!" Seamus grinned and I sighed.

"Guess I'll only be your wingman, Dean!" I said turning back to Dean who laughed.

"Yeah, good luck with that!" He replied and I frowned.

"I will get you a French girl!" I said determined.

"Ok, Freya, whatever you say," He continued to laugh clearly not believing me.

"... Fine, find your own wingman! If you need me, I'll be in the common room offering my wingman services to any other love puppies in Gryffindor!" I stood up and Seamus simply pulled me back down again.

"Don't be so dramatic, Faye! There's only 14 French girls against how many guys?" He didn't let me answer, "too many and since we're only in fourth year, people in seventh year have a better chance since they are their age!"

"You guys have no motivation do you?" I rolled my eyes and let it drop. However, Seamus had other ideas.

"Why don't we get you a lovely Scandinavian Boy over there?" He pointed to where the Durmstrang guys were sitting, obviously having a good time despite how early it was.

"Nope, I'm good. They don't know much English so it isn't exactly worth it is it?" I argued.

"Touché..." Seamus grinned and we both agreed to drop the subject since we were both stubborn on finding a foreign partner.

"Who's up for some lightsaber slicing?" I asked them suddenly and they cheered. So then we went back up to the common room which was surprisingly empty and spent a while just slicing stuff with the lightsaber that Fred, George and Lee had gotten me for my 14th birthday last year. We had often done this at weekends when there was nothing to do.

"Think fast!" Seams yelled and threw a text book towards me - Hermione would've flipped - I sliced the book and it fell to the ground in two pieces instead of one.

"So who do you reckon will be the Hogwarts champion?" Seamus asked us and Dean shrugged, "as long as it isn't a Slytherin, I don't really mind!"

"Same here," I sliced another book, "imagine having to glorify those Slytherin colours all year round..." I shuddered.

"I reckon that Angelina has a running chance, don't you?" Seamus asked.

"I don't want it to be anyone I know; I'd be even more worried for them!" I replied trying to get the image of her dying out of my head. Yes, I know, it's now a safe tournament but you can never be sure.

Eventually they grew bored of destroying school supplies and decided to find Neville instead but I decided to stay in the common room. Once they left, I shut off the lightsaber and cleaned up the mess they had tactically left me to clean up.

When I was putting my lightsaber away in my trunk, I spied a box that I had put my charm bracelet in and grinned. I had completely forgotten about it which, I know is bad of me, so I quickly put it on and twirled the shamrock charm around in my hand.

It was definitely heavier now it had a whomping willow charm on it but it definitely added to the charm of the bracelet - no pun intended.

I wondered if Neville would give me a charm to add to it, at least then I'd have my closest friends on it - then again, I wanted one for Fred, George, Lee and Hermione... I couldn't exactly get them myself! I made a decision to wear the bracelet every day for a subtle hint. Sure, my birthday wasn't till May but that gave then plenty of time to find a charm!

With the marauders diary in my arms, I decided to head up to the astronomy tower part 2 as I was now calling it. Thankfully the book looked like a regular library book on the outside so no-one gave me a strange look.

However I didn't get far before I heard my voice being called.

"OH FAYE DEAREST!" Fred yelled down the corridor making everyone turn in confusion. I immediately knew I was blushing.

"WE'RE YOUNG AGAIN!" George yelled as they walked closer, their voices getting louder. I turned around to come face to ... Well chest with George grinning down at me.

"I thought you looked rather dashing with a beard, you should've kept it!" I backed away slightly from George so I could see them both.

"We tried but before we could tell Madame Pomfrey our plan, she cast it off." Fred told me dejectedly. I made a sympathetic sound as if I actually cared.

"What you got there?" George asked as he yanked my book out of my hands before I could protest. Oh bloody hell.

"Just a library book..." I trailed off. George opened it and gasped.

"What is it?" Fred looked over his shoulder and gasped too.

"I DON'T HAVE A BIG NOSE." George exclaimed and Fred shook his head and said, "what a rude book, of course I'm handsome, aren't I, Faye?" Both looked at me for reassurance and I laughed relieved the book had some sort of protection. They frowned and handed me the book back.

"We don't like that book." Fred said.

"Horrible book." George agreed.

"It wasn't exactly meant to be read by you guys..." I said before I could stop myself. Bad mistake.

I groaned as their eyes lit up with interest and I tried to walk away from them. Too bad there were two of them and I was yanked back by both arms causing the book to fall on the floor.

"It's your diary isn't it!" Fred accused as he picked it up and flipped through the pages.

"You caught me! Too bad you don't know the password!" I quickly picked up on his accusation and followed it through.

"George is so handsome!" George said looking over Fred's shoulder then frowned when the book didn't respond.

"_Fred_ is so handsome!" Fred said with no luck.

I laughed slightly but grew worried they may actually figure out the password. "Give it back!" I begged to which they both looked at me as if I was crazy.

"Why would we do that? We have the power in our hands!" Fred argued and I groaned and tried to snatch it. Too bad he saw it coming and snatched the book out of my reach.

"Please?" I tried the non-violent approach. No luck. Looks like I was going to have to do my never-fail technique to get my way which always worked on my dad.

I started walking away looking dejected and hopeless. I hadn't taken 10 steps before George yelled "WAIT!"

Fred suddenly yelled "GEORGE!" And I heard footsteps running towards me and a book was being placed in my hands by George.

"Thank you!" I hugged him for good measure to avoid suspicion that he had fallen into my trap, he hugged back. Fred just muttered under his breath about how they could have had it all. I stopped hugging George and he somewhat hesitantly let go.

"So where are you off to then with your ever so secret book?" Fred asked walking on my other side as we walked down the corridor.

"A secret place!" I told them which was true but then again, I clearly wasn't going to go there anymore with these two around.

"Oh really?" George said clearly not believing me.

"Yes, really, too bad lunch is going to start soon, better put this book back!" I turned around and started walking back to the common room.

"We'll come with you!" George said before I could protest and Fred sighed, "I need to talk to Angelina about something actually... Sorry!" And he walked off in the opposite direction.

"... Does he like Angelina?" I asked George.

"Won't stop talking about her! They had a fling in third year but since then Angie refuses his oncoming tactics," George grinned as if remembering a memory and I smiled.

"I think they'd suit each other though, Angelina can obviously out Fred in line!"

"You can't tame a Weasley, Faye! We're a fiery breed, just like our hair!" He puffed out his chest proudly and I rolled my eyes.

"With hair that long, I think it's lost its fire," I didn't like their hair since the beginning of this year but I had refrained from saying so till now.

George pouted, "You don't like it?"

"No. You need to cut it." I demanded to which George just flipped his hair behind him like a diva.

"You can't tell me what to do!" He protested. "I am a strong, independent man who doesn't need your opinion!"

"I can try!" I argued back almost walking into a door. This of course made George howl with laughter as I scowled. "YOU CURSED ME." I accused him as he struggled to keep a straight face.

"I think it's just because I'm so handsome you got distracted!" George said through his laughter

"I think it's because you're so _arrogant_ that I can't focus!" I said bitterly rubbing my forehead that had taken the blow. "First the poop, then my wrist, now this. Remind me to avoid you in future."

"To be fair, your wrist getting broken was your own fault," George grinned as we arrived at the common room and he said the password. He let me enter first - which I did warily but I was safe. I speed walked to my dormitory and put the book back in my trunk and walked back down again only to find that George was nowhere to be seen. Naturally, this put me on edge and I started making my way to the door praying to Merlin I wasn't about to get attacked.

"SURPRISE!" George yelled jumping out in front of me as I froze in shock and mentally cursed at my reaction.

"WHAT IN MERLIN'S BEARD IS YOUR PROBLEM?!" I exclaimed crossing my arms, annoyed.

He shrugged, "got bored."

"Hmph." I pushed past him and began the long journey to the great hall not even the slightest bit hungry now my hunger had been _scared_ out of me.

"Alright, I'm sorry, ok?" George apologised quickly matching my speed.

I didn't respond. Yes, I know, overreaction but hey, I needed to update my list of overreactions sometime didn't I? And life wouldn't be interesting without some teenage exaggeration would it?

"Look, I thought you'd see it coming and just roll your eyes!" He explained and I rolled my eyes, "like that!"

"Still!" I defended myself. Oh yeah, I could be a lawyer with these defending skills, the opposition would dread hearing the name Lupin in the court room! I wonder if I would become famous and be wanted all over the world for my layering skills. I could make inspirational speeches and meet the queen!

George was snapping his fingers in front of my face when I stopped thinking about becoming an obviously terrible lawyer. "Can I help you?" I asked.

"... You zoned out for a total of..." He looked at his watch, "3 minutes, 24 seconds!" He raised an eyebrow obviously questioning my sanity. Which he should, I mean I have a werewolf for a dad, I must have issues that are unresolved that I need a therapist for.

"Faye! Focus! What on earth is going in that head of yours..." George wondered aloud as I just grinned.

"I'm not going to go to the great hall, I'm not hungry..." I announced to which George just sighed.

"What is wrong with you today? First you overreact, then you zone out longer than an average person should and THEN you say you aren't hungry! You're always hungry! Well around me anyways..." George frowned. "Are you ok?" He had that look of concern again from when I hurt my wrist.

Now I was confused. "I'm fine...?"

"Are you sure? You can always talk to me if something is bothering you or something, you know," George offered and I nodded appreciating his help but I was pretty sure I was fine. "You're the one overreacting now, Georgie!" I teased trying to move the subject away from my mental instability.

"Oh haha," he said sarcastically, "why don't we go the kitchens instead? Get you some millionaire shortbread...?" He suggested, grinning like a Cheshire cat when he saw my eyes widen at the thought of my weakness. Yes, I have a weakness for millionaire shortbread just like Superman has a weakness for Kryptonite. Of course mine is easier to come by so I'd probably be a terrible super hero since my weakness is already out.

"Fine." I relented and he cheered and we walked in the opposite direction towards the kitchens.

"So what _is_ in that book of yours? It's not your diary, you surrendered that idea too easily," George theorised and I wondered if I should just tell him it's the marauders book. He did look up to them after all...

"Was it a sketchbook?" He asked after a moment's thought when I never answered him.

I shook my head, "you'll never guess it but if you do, I will let you see it, ok?" It seemed like a fair deal in my mind, he gets to see it and I get someone to share it with.

As George mulled it over, I watched a flamingo stretch its wings in a passing portrait. Some of the portraits in this school were actually so irrelevant to anything it made you wonder how they actually managed to get here.

"Alright, what about..."

The rest of the journey was him guessing multiple ideas that were nowhere near the point.

To be fair, I respected him for thinking outside the box.

"Witch weekly?"

"No."

"Photograph album?"

"No."

"Cookbook?" He said this one when we reached the entrance to the kitchens.

"As if!" I slid inside followed by George.

Of course, I was less graceful than he was and I sighed to myself.

"Mistress Faye! Master George!" What a pleasure!" Harvey greeted us and I smiled. "Lovely to see you too, Harvey!"

"Can you whip up some delights in this kitchen for us please?" George asked straight to the point that I gave him a glare. "What?" He asked innocently. "You know what!" I told him.

Harvey ran off again before I could make him make an unneeded apology to a forgiving elf. We sat down at a nearby table and I rested my chin on my hand and sighed.

"Is it actually a dragon whose cage has been enchanted to look like a book?" George asked back on the topic of the book. It was pretty easy answer to guess if he just remembered that both the book and the marauders had the same insult charm on it. I wasn't telling him that though.

"I wish!" I joked but I don't think I could handle a dragon, "isn't one of your brothers working with dragons?"

"Oh that's Charlie! Yeah, got a few burns but he loves them which drives mum mad with worry," George laughed and I wondered what it was like to have a large family since I have only my dad and now Sirius as an uncle of some sort.

"I forgot you had that bracelet," George said as he fiddled with the whomping willow charm, "You have a new one! Who's that from?"

Oh boy, "Oh that's from my Dad – inside joke," I didn't exactly know how else to put it – _'oh yeah that's because my dad changed into a werewolf here at school and I met Sirius there every Sunday for most of last year' _didn't exactly sound normal did it?

"Fair enough," He paused then his eyes lit up, "You need one from me! Because then you won't forget how fabulous I am." He grinned and I rolled my eyes, "If you say so, George!"

We must have chatted away for hours because it was soon time for the Halloween feast. "Is that the time?" I asked not wanting to believe it.

"Sure looks like it, see?" He shoved his watch in my face and I just pulled a face and moved away. "Ok, ok, I see!"

"After you my lady," he bowed exaggeratedly as he let me leave the kitchens first so I curtsied back. This seemed to be a reoccurring thing with him but I wasn't complaining!

"I wonder who will be chosen from Hogwarts to be the champion, I'm betting on Angelina!" George told me as we walked to the great hall for the feast.

"I bet it will be Cedric!" I said.

"Well, if Angelina is chosen, you owe me 5 galleons." He grinned.

"Why do you like to bet so much?! But sure, you're on!" I shook his hand hoping to Merlin he didn't win since I didn't exactly have any money at the moment and it would be brilliant to just win against him for once.

**A/N I know this is rubbish. A whole day in a chapter – this is new for me, I normally like to do an overview according to Eosaella so I tried something different... yeah, Sorry for the rubbish chapter but it's late and I promise it will get better soon, you could call this a 'filler chapter' I guess but oh well, my apologies once again :P**


	14. Anger Management, Insults and Quidditch

** IM UPDATING ON MY IPOD SO THERE MAY BE MISTAKES AND I CAN'T PUT ITALICS I HALFWAY SO ANY RANDOM CAPITAL WORDS ARE MEANT TO BE IN ITALICS OK. Enjoy :) **

Well that was a sure fire turn of events... Shall I fill you in? Yes I shall.

After finding a seat next to Seamus, who asked what I would've done of he had been a champion and I replied with a "you'd be an idiot to enter." I probably would've have forcefully stopped him entering - I didn't want one of my closest friends in danger of dying!

We waited to see who was chosen. It wasn't a surprise that Krum was chosen and to be honest, I didn't really care about the veela person but hey, I should probably figure out who they actually are soon if they were now a champion.

Cedric Diggory was chosen for Hogwarts. When he was, I took a moment to stare victoriously at George who was further down the table, he just frowned at me in dissapointment of losing.

Oh yeah, then Harry Potter was chosen too for some reason which left the hall in stunned silence - seriously how the HELL did he manage that?!

"LET'S HAVE A PARTY FOR HARRY WHEN HE GETS BACK!" Fred announced when we had all returned and most people readily agreed apart from some who quickly left which I really wish I had done.

What I found strange was that despite Seamus, Dean and Neville being quite happy about Harry becoming a champion, Ron seemed rather disgruntled. He left shortly after and Hermione chatted with us.

"Can you believe it?!" She asked us and we shook our head.

"I know! Cedric was actually chosen!" Seamus exclaimed and I laughed, "Honestly, Seamus, it's not that big if a deal! How many times do I have to tell you - HE'S A NICE GUY." I said and added, "besides, concentrate on Harry instead."

"I suppose..." Seamus relented and we laughed.

"I think he'a a genius for getting past that age line!" Dean said and we all nodded.

"It just doesn't make sense..." Hernione frowned, "harry wouldn't do this - I think someone else put his name in it. With a different intent..."

"Way to put a downer on things, Hermione!" Seamus grinned and Dean rolled his eyes.

"That doesn't sound too good..." Neville said clearly not liking the idea one bit.

"Yes, well, I'm going to sleep, good night." Then she left once we said Good night.

"She likes to overthink things doesn't she?" Dean wondered aloud once she left.

"She probably has good reason, I mean, this is Hermione who is the top of the class!" I felt like I should defend Hermione since she couldn't but I did see his point. Why couldn't Harry have entered secretly for a bit of money?

Across the room, I saw Angelina. Katie and Alicia talking with Fred, George and Lee about something. George caught my eye and grinned and walked over. "I believe I owe you some money..." He held up the promised ten galleons and I shook my head, "Keep it, I have the victory of winning against you as a prize," I smiled and George's smile faltered for a second obviously surprised. "But we made a bet! I can't just tale back the money! That's like... Breaking a law!" He frowned and continued to try to hand me the money. I realised the rest of my group was listening.

"Well looks like you're a vigilante now! Don't worry, I won't call the police on you." I wouldn't take the money.

"Fine." George took back the money, "Burn any wanted posters of me will you?" He winked and walked back to Fred and the others and Seamus rolled his eyes.

"You won a bet against a Weasley twin and wouldn't take his money? What is wrong with you?!" Seamus exclaimed.

"Yeah! Winning a bet is one thing, the money is an added bonus!" Dean joined in.

"I don't need the money," I shrugged. I would've used it for presents anyway so I didn't really need it.

"..." Seamus seemed to be holding back on saying something and I raised an eyebrow practically challenging him to point out how poor my family was.

"But it's WEASLEY." Seamus finally said and I think I raised my eyebrow higher in surprise. "I still don't see how they bother you, I really don't..."

"They think they're so popular!" Seamus exclaimed and Dean stood up, "I'm er.. Going to see how Ron is doing..."

"I'll join you!" Neville stood up quickly and they both went upstairs, Seamus and I staring after them.

"Aren't you going to join them?" I asked Seamus, our argument now forgotten.

"Nah, I'm sure Ron's fine, I can talk to him about it tomorrow if I really want to," Seamus said and I nodded.

"Guys don't really discuss their feelings do they?" I observed and Seamus nodded, "we prefer actions over words, I guess."

"I think I prefer that." I said.

"Why?" Seamus asked.

"Because then I don't have to tell people how I feel all the time," I replied, sitting back into the chair.

"Yeah, but no-one cares how I feel, Dean just laughs it off if I do tell him," Seamus shrugged and I stared him.

"I care how you feel, Seamus, just because a guy doesn't care doesn't mean a girl can't!" I grinned, "so what's on your mind, eh?" I asked.

Seamus visibly tensed and I refrained from raising an eyebrow. "Well... Er... I think... That maybe... I like... This girl..." Seamus scratched the back of his neck and I laughed.

"Well I'm pretty sure any girl would love to go out with you! You should ask her tomorrow." I stated.

Seamus paled, "It's not that easy!"

"... It's not a slytherin is it."

"No, no! It's just, I don't think she'd like me back..." He turned his concentration to his hands.

I sighed, how does one help a guy with girl trouble? Isn't this what the guys help out with?! I made a note to ask Dean to help him tomorrow. "Well, you can either watch this girl from afar and never ask her or take a chance and ask her soon," I told him.

"I think I'll take the first option." Seamus said and I rolled my eyes. "Are you a Gryffindor or not?"

"Look, maybe I'll ask her before the summer or something, we have this formal attire, right? I'll ask her at that mystery event." Seamus decided.

"Well... If that's what you want to do..." I relented not entirely sure what else to say.

"So what do you reckon the first event will be in this Triwizard tournament?" Seamus asked, keen to get off the subject.

I happily obliged, not sure how I would help him further, "I say something to do with... Fighting against an army or something." Rubbish answer but I hadn't given it THAT much thought apart from when George and I thought about it in the kitchens.

"Maybe they'll have a banshee. Since they're scary."

I couldn't help but laugh at that, Seamus glared and I apologised, "sorry, but I'm pretty sure Krum is bigger than a banshee and wouldn't even give it a second glance!" I stifled another laugh.

"Fine, fine, did I ever tell you that my cousin, Fergus asked about you in a letter the other day?" Seamus grinned.

I frowned, "he did?!" This can't be good, "why?!"

"I think he developed a crush on you during your visit, no worries, I told him you didn't care about him in that way," Seamus continued to grin and I never felt so relieved.

"Thanks!" I hugged him and let go, "I don't think I even talked to him that much..."

"Guess these things just happen," Seamus yawned, "I think I'm going to go to sleep, night!" I waved and he left.

I wondered briefly if I should make a move myself before the party started or to go find someone else and stick with them. My decision was made for me however, when Fred and George jumped onto the sofa from behind.

"Hey Lupin!" Fred greeted while I tried to get my heart rate back to normal.

"On your own now, eh?" George observed.

"Yeah... Might go upstai-"

"Nope!" George put an arm around my shoulder and handed me a butterbeer, "this will be a great party." He told me with confidence that I clearly lacked about this 'party'.

"Exactly! Why be boring!" Fred intervened.

"HE'S COMING!" Someone shouted across the common room, Fred and George sprang up and ran to the portrait door where a bewildered Harry was being greeted.

I watched as the party suddenly grew lively and everyone congratulated Harry, I thought about going to tell him the same but I knew my seat would get taken straight away. There was a couple in the corner that kept glancing my way hoping I'd leave which made me more determined to stay but I knew I'd give in soon.

I stared at my butterbeer wondering if I could just leave it on the side and go upstairs but judging by the people around my exit, this wasn't going to happen.

I sighed, sure I was happy for Harry but was this party really neccessary? Maybe I wasn't liking the party because I DIDN'T HAVE ANYONE TO TALK TO.

I looked over to where harry was starting to look annoyed and laughed to myself.

"What you laughing about?" A voice asked next to me. I jumped, looked away from Harry to see that George had left the crowd to annoy me.

"The fact that Harry doesn't want to be here," I answered grinning.

"Really?" George looked over and frowned, "but it's such a fun party!"

"For you maybe, yeah, to be fair he's probably just tired," I shrugged.

"But he's a Hogwarts champion! He managed to get past the age line!" George said with awe in his voice.

"You reckon he actually put his name into the cup?" I asked unsure myself.

"He won't say he did - says someone else did it but he could be lying..." George trailed off and I laughed.

"Harry isn't one to lie about things like this! If he say someone else put it in, then someone else put it in." I said firmly.

"You really believe him?" George asked.

"He's my friend. Even though we don't talk much, I still trust him." I realised that I trusted him with my life, wow.

"Fair enough, well, if you believe him, so do I," George grinned. "Want another butterbeer?"

I looked down at my suddenly empty butterbeer and wondered if I had been drinking subconciously. "Uh... No I'll think I'll just go to bed..." I stood up and put the glass on a table not entirely sure what to do with it.

George stood up also, "you sure? The party is just getting started! I reckon Lee's about to bring out the karoke soon!" George said and I shook my head, "nope, I'm going, see you later!" I quickly left before I could change my mind because I liked to be around George, Fred and Lee. They did liven things up you see. It was probably better I got some sleep though - well, a little. It took another hour before I heard Mcgonagall interrupt a horrible rendition of a beatles song by Lee. I secretly wished I had stayed at the party.

The next morning (at 5am) I picked up the marauders diary from under my bed and read another entry:

November 23:

Prongs got himself put in the hospital wing today, didn't you? ~ Padfoot

IT WASN'T MY FAULT. ~ Prongs

I think you'll find it was ~ Padfoot

Guys... ~ Moony

HE BLOODY ATTACKED ME! ~ Prongs

Is this really the time? ~ Moony

You know how those slimy snakes hate getting insulted! ~ Padfoot

It was so worth it though ~ Prongs

Hell yeah it was! Did you see- ~ Padfoot

GUYS. Really?! ~ Moony

Sorry, Moony... ~ Padfoot and Prongs

Why didn't you just dodge the spell? ~ Wormtail

Good question, maybe because I didn't actualLY SEE IT? ~ Prongs

It's the pain talking Wormy ~ Moony

At least Evans saw my heroic efforts... ~ Padfoot

Oh come off it, you fell and started crying. ~ Padfoot

SHE WAS CONCERNED FOR ME. ~ Prongs

More like 'what is this prat doing to himself?' ~ Padfoot

Oh bloody hell. ~ Moony

She would've carried me here if you prats hadn't shown up! ~ Prongs

She's the one that called for us, Prongs ~ Padfoot

She did? ~ Prongs

Yes, and if she hadn't you might of bled to death. ~ Moony

Way to put a downer on things, Moony! I'm alive aren't I? ~ Prongs

Just about. ~ Moony

You're as pale as those sheets! ~ Wormtail

Reckon I'll be able to scare someone? ~ Prongs

Snape! ~ Padfoot

BRILLIANT. Ok I'll just use this sheet- ~ Prongs

LIE DOWN UNLESS YOU WANT TO LOSE ANYMORE BLOOD. ~ Nurse

Sorry... ~ Prongs

Idiot ~ Padfoot

Prat ~ Prongs

They must've placed a charm on it for this entry and just had a conversation. I wondered what exactly caused James to lose that much blood but the idea made me feel sick.

I read a few more entries, all as interesting as the first one before deciding I was hungry enough for breakfast at 6.

The cup had now been moved from the middle of the hall to the side of the teachers table but it still drew attention to it thanks to the flames still burning from it.

There was toast today. Rows of it in fact, nothing but toast. Yum. Thank Merlin I liked toast.

I decided to send a letter to my dad about Harry getting entered. I would've told Sirius too but I figured Harry would do that himself.

"Hello," Hermione greeted and I smiled, "Hey! You seen Harry yet?"

She frowned, "not yet, but I'm concerned about Ron..."

"Really?"

"Yes, well, he seemed rather mad last night didn't he?" Hermione said taking some toast of the rack that was immediately replaced.

"I didn't really see him, I was with Seamus, Dean and Neville who seemed quite excited so I just assumed Ron would be too," I shrugged pretending to not have noticed his face last night looking angry at the mention of Harry.

"I think he still thinks Harry entered himself and is annoyed Harry didn't tell him." Hermione said and I frowned, "but I swear he was with you the entire day! Why does he think that?"

"Maybe he's jealous - there he is!" Hermione looked over to Seamus, Dean and Ron who were walking over to us.

"Hey," they greeted simultaneously as they sat down and immediately helped themselves to the toast and jam.

"So... How are you Ron?" Hermione asked somewhat tentatively.

"Fine. It's not like my best friend decided to enter the tournament and not tell me." He visciously buttered his toast so much it broke in the middle. He picked up a piece and began to eat it. "Acting like he didn't even enter either!" He said, mouth full of food.

"But he didn't! He was with us the entire day! Besides, Faye would've seen if he had gotten up early!"

I didn't want to be included so I just nodded and took a bite of toast. They argued a bit more before Hermione left with toast in her hand, presumeably so she could eat without having to argue with Ron.

"Why does she always have to side with Harry?" Ron moaned as soon as she was out of hearing distance.

Seamus shrugged, "someone has to,"

"He'll apologise eventually," Dean added and I wondered if I should shout at them for suddenly hating on Harry when last night they were happy for him. As I was about to open my mouth to say something, Seamus gave me a look as if to say 'just go with it' and I sighed.

I didn't really want to be around them 'hating' on Harry but I didn't exactly have anything to do. Plus, I didn't want them to hate me.

Ron complained about Harry the entire breakfast and even Seamus and Dean were starting to look bored, "guys, why don't we destroy some books? That's perfect for you, Ron!" I was of course, talking about the lightsaber.

"Is this that light thing you use to slice things up?" Ron asked curiously.

I nodded, "it's great for stress relief - tried it during exams last year didn't we?"

"Yeah, we like to imagine it's Snape's head on occasion," Dean agreed and we laughed.

"Sounds good!" Ron smiled for the first time this morning which I guess is a good thing... right?

"And THAT," *chop* "is for lying,"

"And THAT," *chop* "is for taking the limelight, ONCE AGAIN" *chop*

Ok maybe this wasn't a good idea. I sent Seamus and Dean an apologetic look as I repaired the books for the 100th time and threw them to Dean to throw the Ron. We had taken it in turns to repair the books and throw them but who got to chop? We just let Ron destroy books in anger until he let it out. However it had been an hour and he was just repeating himself and not giving up. Thankfully we had chosen to have this anger management session in their dormitory away from normal people. Not that we weren't... We just... Having a lightsaber to cut books in half isn't exactly normal is it?

"Ron, keep down will you? Not all of us need to hear your problems! Oh hey guys... And girl... Where's Harry?" Fred interrupted us and Ron just shrugged and gestured for Dean to throw another book.

"With Hermione I think," I answered for him.

"While you're around, Faye.. Reckon you could help us with an idea?" Fred grinned and I immediately jumped at the question, "sure!" I waved at Seamus and Dean who were giving me slight evils. "Make sure you give me back the lightsaber!" I closed the door behind me and followed Fred up the stairs. I had been to Seamus' dorm a few times but never any further.

"We got company!" Fred called at the door and there was a shuffle and a bang and an answer of "that's lovely!" Fred rolled his eyes and whispered, "It's protocall to say if you're bringing a girl up here, we're gentlemen you see!" He opened the door and I saw a pristine room and I raised an eyebrow, "you might want to think about that cleaning spell, it's too obvious." I winced at the strong clean smell that reached my nose as I walked in.

"Faye! What a lovely surprise!" George grinned from a bed and Lee waved lazily next to him. "Nice to see you criticising our work once more!" Lee said and I shrugged,

"I'm just trying to help! I am a girl after all..."

All three of them snorted and I sighed, "Nice to see you guys too." I sat down on Fred's bed (his trunk was in front of it).

"Now listen to our plan," Fred sat down next to me, George and Lee sat up and opposite us. "See this block of chocolate?" He held up a supposedly normal bar but I assumed otherwise, "we've added a charm to it that makes the eater insult the nearest person!" Fred beamed like a kid showing the teacher his finished work.

"Um... That's... Great?" I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it to be honest.

"Great? It's magnificent!" Lee grinned, "we're planning to use it on Snape at dinner."

"With a bar of chocolate? Wouldn't you want a less... Standing out food?" I picked it up an inspected it.

"Told you she'd find a fault!" George said and Lee laughed, "George figured you'd know what we needed to do to improve it, thankfully you were closer than we thought!"

George just laughed a little and scratched his neck.

"Well." Fred began, "what food would you suggest?"

"We find out what's for dinner via the house elves and ask for them to give a specific piece of food to Snape!" I answered as if it was obvious.

"You do know the elves won't want to cause harm, right?" Lee asked and I shrugged. "They've been convinced to give the slytherin snakes before..." I grinned.

"Oh yeah! Right, to the kitchens!" Fred stood up and we all began the journey to the kitchens. Ron was still shouting on the way down even though Dean was trying to persuade Ron to do something else.

"Why don't we see the giant squid?"

"I WANT TO DESTROY BOOKS."

I had a feeling I wasn't going to get my lightsaber back anytime soon...

"Nice to know, you like to keep using our wonderful present every now and then," George told me as we walked out the portrait.

"Yes, well, it's very useful when you want to feel rebellious with no consequences." I wondered how many times we had destroyed books but it was too many.

"Hanging out with us is probably not the best option then..." Lee added and I laughed, "trust me, I don't think I can handle Ron just shouting about Harry any longer."

"He's mad at Harry?!" Fred asked looking concerned. Good. A brother should be concerned.

"Uh.. Well, I think it's more to do with 'Harry's in the papers once again' kind of thing," I shrugged, it was clearly about that Ron kept getting outshined by everyone. But I wasn't exactly about to tell them that.

"That's stupid! Harry trusts him more than anyone else at this castle!" George exclaimed and Fred nodded, "Ron's so dramatic sometimes..."

"To be fair he also has 7 brothers who have all got reputations..." I trailed off wondering why I even said it.

Fred and George stopped and stared at me, "he surely doesn't realise how popular he is?" Fred cocked his head a little and I pulled a face. "He's Harry's best friend! Bloody hell, Ron had some low self esteem! We'll talk to him later won't we, Fred?"

"Right, George!"

"Guys, I think it's best if you didn't..." I said.

"But-"

"Let him let off some steam, it's obviously been building up since we first got here,"

"He's probably having a moment similar to me when WE were in year 4, remember that guys?" Lee said grinning.

Fred started laughing, "you started supporting Hufflepuff during that quidditch game!"

"What was it you said again? 'Those beaters are really terrible aren't they? Must be the hair!'" George cracked up laughing and they all laughed about a memory I wasn't part of. I began to feel awkward but I smiled it away letting them be happy. I was amazed that they could laugh about something like that when I'd immediately feel awkward not happy.

"You almost dyed my hair blue, until your guilty concience got the better of you!"

"Oh yeah!" George began to fake Lee's voice, "FRED DON'T DO IT!" He stopped to laugh, his voice back to his own, "you actually ran in on him in the shower!"

"Rather that than me having blue hair! Good prank though, hit them at their pride..." Fred grinned and gave Lee one of those head scruff things. What do you call them? Who knows...

Soon we found ourselves in the kithen and Lee immediately got to work figuring out what was was dinner.

He came back a few seconds later, "FISH AND CHIPS!" He exclaimed.

"Wicked," Fred and george grinned.

Fred went with Lee to find one of the cooks to add a charm for snape's food.

"Your idea was so much better, you know" George said by my ear which made me jump. "Sorry," He quickly apologised.

"No, no, it was me," I laughed, "It's my reflexes, which you should know by now."

"It's not exactly on the top of things I need to remember," George grinned and I rolled my eyes, "should be, I am practically the most important person at this school!" What a lie.

"You keep telling yourself that," George patronised me and I gave him a glare, Harry just happens to outshine me," I shrugged.

"Why's Harry outshining you?" Fred asked joining the conversation with Lee behind him, "The prank is complete by the way, now we just have to wait till dinner for the results!" Fred smiled in the same way he always did after pranks that made me thankful I wasn't on their bad side.

"We were discussing how famous I am." I replied in a mock 'i'm-better-than-you' voice.

"Oh is that so?" Fred said and he continued to grin in the post prank way - would this be a good time to take cover?

"Then how come we are so much more popular than you?" Fred asked while Lee made a "oooh" sound.

"They feel sorry for you, after all, gingers need all the sympathy they can get nowadays..." I said.

("Oooh!")

"Well thanks to their 'sympathy' ladies are practically throwing themselves at us!" Fred used the age old argument defense.

"They just want to be seen with you so people think they're involved in charity work." I don't even know what I said.

"...what?" Fred tilted his head and I shrugged, "my insults are a bit rusty."

"Like your social life?" Fred grinned victoriously.

("Oooh!")

"It's because I'm hanging out with you." I folded my arms, victorious myself.

"Touché" Fred held out his hand for me to shake, so I did and thankfully he didn't trick me or anything.

"Are you guys finished?" George asked from a table with half a cookie in his hand (the rest eaten presumably). Lee was sitting next to him grinning.

"Yep! Got any more cookies?" I asked eyeing it and George shook his head and purposefully ate the rest of his cookie, "nope!"

I narrowed my eyes at him, "how. Freaking. Dare You"

George pretended to be innocent, "what?"

"You're as bad as Fred! Lee help my sanity before it leaves for good," I looked pleadingly at him and he just looked me straight in the eye and said, "it went a long time ago."

"I CANT HANDLE YOU GUYS!" I exclaimed sitting opposite George and Lee. Fred sat down next to me and scruffled my hair, "ah, but you can, that's why we let you help us with pranks!"

"I can't be bothered to have constant battle of wits though!" I argued even though I was touched by his comment.

"I'll tone it down for a while, I promise!" Fred looked solemly at me so I decided to believe him.

"Maybe I should try eating one of those fish you're going to give Snape later..." I grinned and Fred shook his head, "Wait till it's stable and we can test it together and see who comes up with the best insult!"

"I can see that ending badly so no." I didn't exactly want to offend Fred hence my rubbish insults about his hair colour instead.

"Yeah you're probably right," Fred agreed and we all sat in companionable silence for a while until Lee broke it by saying, "Reckon anyone will be on the quidditch pitch?"

"Well let's go and see! Faye, you wanna join?" George asked and I nodded, as long as I'm not a beater I can play alright!"

"Good because that's our job, right, Freddie?" And Fred agreed.

"Although, ickle Lee here doesn't do much!" Fred teased and Lee glared at him.

"I just don't like going very high ok!" He defended and I smiled sympathetically.

"It's no fun on the ground though!" George whined.

I zoned out of their conversation most of the way since every time I zoned in, it was about Lee's height phobia. My mind wandered to my dad and what he might be doing right now, it was a full moon tonight so I hoped he would be taking the potion I made and that it worked.

Soon we reached the quidditch pitch and thankfully no-one was there. Lee headed straight to one of the places they kept the brooms and took out four. "LET'S PLAY SOME QUIDDITCH!" Lee exclaimed and Fred rolled his eyes and went to find a ball.

"Faye! You've never played our version have you?" Lee said and I shook my head as I took a broom from him.

"Basically," George jumped in, "we have a quaffle and the aim is to get it through one of the hoops while trying to do as many elaborate moves as possible while the other team tries to intercept!"

Oh dear. "Now I see why Lee likes to stay close to the ground..." I murmered and Lee grinned, "it's alright," then he whispered to me, "Just twirl around a bit and you'll get away with it!" I nodded and Fred came back with a quaffle.

"Let's get ready to rumble!" Fred said in an announcer type voice and we all looked at him blankly. "Seriously? Nothing? George!" Fred pleaded and the twin in question just grinned and mounted his broomstick and flew off to perform a triple loop. Show off.

"ME AND FRED ARE A TEAM JUST SAYING." George bellowed and Fred joined George in the sky before we could protest about it being unfair. Mainly because Lee and I don't exactly play quidditch o a regular basis let alone perform tricks as we go.

Lee turned to me and said, "I say we try to distract them instead," he paused for a second and his eyes lit up, "ok, the only way we win is if you pretend to get hurt."

I raised an eyebrow but let him continue.

"Around ten minutes into the game, fly above George and fall off your broom. You're going to have to trust him, besides, you're as light as a feather so he won't have any trouble..." Lee grinned as he finished telling me the plan.

"Is there no other way?" I asked feebly, not entirely sure if I could bring myself to just FALL into what I'm assuming are his arms.

"Nope. While you do that I'll go ahead and throw the quaffle into the hoop when theyre distracted."

"... Aren't they meant to see your flips and such?" I said pointing out what I thought was an obvious flaw in the plan.

"That's where you're wrong! I'm surprisingly good at persuading them to believe me, I know how their mind works!" He pointed to his own head and I just shook my head, bemused.

"Fine, let's try this!" I grinned.

"YEAH." Lee exclaimed and Fred called down for us to 'stop chatting and start playing'.

I nervously got onto my broomstick and flew into the air. It wasn't because I was nervous of flying since I did play quidditch with Seamus and Dean in the summer - it was more the fact I was going to have to trust George with MY LIFE.

Fred and George were not as good as I thought when it came to intercepting the quaffle so it was pretty easy for Lee and I to get some hoops, but we didn't really try to do extravagent acts which they were trying to do - it was very easy to take the quaffle when they were upside down attempting a one handed loop de loop.

Around ten minutes in, Lee nudged me as he went past with the quaffle and I knew I had to do this. Well I didn't have to but I did want to win...

I started flying across the pitch to where George was waiting to defend gradually feeling sicker and sicker and I immediately flew above when I got close. I counted to five and then... Let go.

**A/N I'M SO TERRIBLE WITH SASSYNESS I CAN PRACTICALLY HEAR YOU ALL WONDERING WHAT YOU JUST READ A FEW MINUTES AGO. Anyways, oh noes Faye is falling into what she hopes will be George's awaiting arms unless something was to... Go wrong... *cackles***

**Also my friend forensic-dragons has a fred/OC story on the go so go check that out! :D**


	15. Arguments, Dragons and Chocolate

Not to be over dramatic or anything but I'm pretty sure I saw my life flash before my eyes before I felt myself enveloped in arms and George's grinning face was staring at me.

Maybe it was the shock but I couldn't help thinking about how his eyes looked really nice in this light. How his hair fell just right even though I'd never admit that he had the perfect face to flaunt any hairstyle. Did I just say perfect? I didn't mean it like that obviously. I realised he still hadn't broken eye contact and neither had I - I should've done but I couldn't.

"Slipped did you, Lupin?" George waggled his eyebrows and I laughed feeling a blush in my cheeks starting. "Maybe, but then again, you were here to catch my clumsy self who once again managed to almost injure herself in your vicinity," I said.

"True, true..." He mused, we still hadn't broken eye contact and I couldn't even hear Fred and Lee anymore, where did they go? I blinked and the eye contact was broken and I was suddenly hyper aware of my surroundings.

"... Should just throw something at them?" Fred was saying as I zoned back into real life.

I turned around and Fred and Lee were hovering nearby grinning like Cheshire cats. Now I felt extremely awkward and wanted to go back to my common room and make a cocoon of my duvet and never talk to anyone again.

"We won the game, Lupin!" Lee said through his grin and I couldn't help but think that he wanted me to feel awkward; they were all in on this 'lets-make-her-feel-as-awkward-as-possible' game of theirs. I must be a constantly ongoing prank for them.

"Yay?" I said half-heartedly losing all my excitement now I'd seen through their plan.

"Yes, 'Yay' because we won against these two plonkers!" Lee exclaimed and I cracked a smile despite the game obviously being a set up.

I soon found myself making excuses about homework when I was back on the ground and left before they could protest too much. I didn't go back towards the castle though in case they followed me (they wouldn't). Instead as I exited the entrance, I took a sharp left after I was out of sight from the guys and walked around and under the stadium curtain thing (shush) - yeah there's a hole in the stadium where couples tend to steal kisses (and more) away from prying eyes. I only know about this place because Sirius told me about how James was the one to put it there simply to try and kiss Lily as much as possible. Thankfully no-one was currently snogging in here so I was safe to find a spot on the ground and watch the pitch where the guys were still standing and near enough so I could listen. I wanted to know what they were saying about me - is that a bad thing? Thankfully they were still in the stadium and close by too, thank Merlin!

"What were you thinking, Lee! Now she probably thinks I'm an idiot!" George was exclaiming as he paced back and forth.

"Blimey, George, look who's being overdramatic now?" Fred teased.

"Oh shut up, just because you don't have this problem!" George retorted. He stopped pacing and turned to Lee, "reckon she'll talk to me ever again?"

"All you did was catch her, I don't think she hates you for that," Lee said.

"You saw how embarrassed she was! She doesn't want to be near me! No matter how much I try she'd rather be with Seamus I just know it!" George crossed his arms as I gasped quietly. How could he think I hated him! What a drama queen.

"Look, oh brother of mine," Fred put a hand on George's and said, "how about Lee and I talk to her and get the vibe on her feelings about you?"

I rolled my eyes, why George thought I hated him was a mystery, I was just embarrassed to have stared at him for that long.

"Ha." George said then sighed, "Fine, but can you do it subtly? I don't exactly want her to know... You know," George tilted his head and I tilted mine for a different reason. What's he on about?

"Come on Georgie, we'll go find her now won't we? We can find Angie and Alicia first if you want?" Fred asked and George shook his head, "no, I'll just go to the kitchens or something," he said.

They left the pitch and it was silent again. Well, my mind was buzzing with on earth George was talking about.

Needless to say, in the next few days (or weeks) I tried to avoid all three of them by turning around halfway down a corridor if I saw them at the other end. Thankfully they never saw me (I hope) so my life was peaceful for a while.

Well, apart from when Snape insulted Dumbledore at dinner the same day I began to avoid them - Snape decided to make my day worse in potions from then on. It was creepy how he always _knew _just who had done it. He should become the next Sherlock with that accusing mind of his. Wait, what if he can read minds? Oh dear.

I was also refusing to hang out with Seamus and Dean now that Ron had latched onto them so I had taken to either hanging out in the astronomy room or with the Threstrals with Luna since that was the only place I knew I could find her.

"It must be awfully lonely to not talk to Fred, George and Lee," Luna said one afternoon as she threw a raw piece of meat to a Threstrals who must have caught it because it was slowly lowered to the ground and gradually disappearing.

I shrugged, "I never talked to them on a daily basis anyway,"

"I think you should, maybe it was a misunderstanding," Luna suggested. I had previously told her about the conversation I had overheard.

"I don't think so," I said somewhat stubbornly, "they clearly found it funny to have me as part of a joke. Why did I even bother..." I lowered myself to the ground while leaning against a tree and Luna looked over concerned. "Listen, out of all the things those three are, they aren't ones to play cruel jokes like that on someone like you. So stop thinking you aren't worth the attention." She gave me a scrutinizing look as I gaped at her unsure how to get my argument across. She turned back around again to pet one of the Threstrals and her voice returned to its regular airiness. "Besides, I don't think Fred and Lee would be chasing you in the castle to hold a conversation with you if they didn't think highly of you," She said.

"You observe a lot, don't you?" I said grinning, "Yeah but..." I shrugged.

"When we get back to the castle, you should go and talk to them, at least then, you can make a proper judgement," She said giving the final raw piece of meat away. Seriously, only she could get away with walking through the castle with those.

"_Fiiiiiiine_," I drawled out relenting easily. I'm such a pushover. I stood up and stood next to her. "I reckon those Threstrals must look really cool." I stared at Luna's hand which was currently stroking one.

"They're innocent, really, it's a shame they look the way they do though," She smiled and looked at me, "shall we go back to the castle then?"

"I'd rather hang with the invisible horses if I'm honest," I cracked an uneasy grin and Luna shook her head and grabbed my hand, "you need to talk to them."

Eventually we got back to the castle and Luna said she needed to finish her essay for Snape or she'd never get it done. I knew she was lying but I appreciated that she knew that this was something I needed to do myself.

I figured the easiest way to find them was to just walk around the castle for a while.

A long while.

Seriously, I never found them. Typical, you can never find something when you look for it. Luna always said that lost things have a way of coming back to us eventually but Fred and Lee didn't exactly fit into that category.

I gave up after I passed a portrait of a dragon who roared at me for the third time I passed it; I guess it wouldn't hurt to just give up...

"Faye!" I have to be honest, I swore quietly.

"Avoiding us are you?" Fred asked as he and Lee walked over. The dragon behind me roared once gain and I wished it would just jump out of the portrait and eat me.

"What would uh, make you think that?" I ran a hand through my hair to distract myself from their scrutinizing gazes. Is MI5 hiring? I'd be superb under pressure.

"What's this about, Faye?" Lee asked looking sad. Damnit.

"Yeah, what did we do wrong?" Fred asked putting on a pout for good measure.

I shrugged and mumbled incoherently under my breath about me being a joke. Due to thinking about their conversation and making myself believe I was a joke, I probably had exaggerated the whole thing knowing me.

Fred raised an eyebrow, "so you reckon you're part of an intricately planned joke by us?" Fred asked deciphering what I thought was impossible mumbling, damnit.

"Uh..." I responded feeling my cheeks feel pink. I wasn't entirely sure what the reason was. Maybe it was the fact I embarrassed myself in front of George - I cared about that more than I'd like to admit. Maybe it was the fact that Lee talked me into doing it. Maybe it was the fact that I just wasn't feeling like they enjoyed my company.

I was suddenly engulfed in a hug by Fred and he sighed, "Faye you idiot," I grinned glad I was just being overdramatic and none of it was true.

"Yeah! You're like the fourth musketeer! You complete us!" Lee added and Fred stopped the hug to look over at him.

"Too cheesy?" Lee asked and Fred nodded.

Fred gave me some space again and ran a hand through his hair, "look, why don't you come and hang out with us for a bit before dinner?"

I nodded, "sounds good!" I said and Lee put a hand over my shoulders and guided me down the corridor.

"Oh, I was meant to ask," Fred asked casually, "do you hate George?"

I stared at him and blinked suddenly remembering how George had asked them to ask me.

"Yeah, he thinks you do," Lee added rolling his eyes.

"Why? That's a tad stupid; if I hated him I wouldn't trust him to catch me after SOMEONE persuades me to fall off my broom." I pointedly glared at Lee who just grinned innocently, "no problem," he said.

Fred looked thoughtful for a moment, "that is true, well at least I can finally say I have proof that you don't hate him!" He smiled and shared a look with Lee who took his arm off my shoulders and they both suddenly linked arms with me and lifted me off the ground before I could protest and took me back to the common room.

"PUT ME DOWN." No response.

"I'M SERIOUS." Still nothing but a chuckle.

"Right. You asked for it." I threatened and suddenly jerked and got my arm free from lee from the shock of my jerk and slapped Fred in the face with it, who let go - also in shock. Hey, it was the only thing I could think of that would be successful.

"THAT'S THE SECOND TIME YOU SLAPPED ME, LUPIN. I AM HURT." Fred yelled in mock anger and I just folded my arms in victory watched his cheek grow redder.

"For a beater, you have terrible reflexes," I said smugly.

Fred just cradled his cheek and sighed. Lee on the other hand was laughing a lot. "Your cheek, Fred!" He managed to say between laughs.

"What about it?" He asked confused until his expression turned into one of realisation.

"WHERE'S A MIRROR." He exclaimed and since the boys toilets were up ahead he ran into them and emerged a few seconds later looking angry.

"YOU RUINED MY BEAUTIFUL FACE." He shouted pointed at his cheek. I tilted my head and pretended to look sympathetic, "aw, poor thing, would you like a plaster?"

Lee lost it then and couldn't stop laughing at Fred's horrified face.

"OH IT'S ON, LUPIN. JUST YOU WAIT." Fred threatened.

"You realised to get your own back, it's only fair to slap me, it's how slaps work," I shrugged and Fred groaned. "That's a rubbish revenge!"

"I didn't invent the rules, I simply follow them." I grinned.

"Fine, just watch your back from now on, Lupin," He gave his most threatening stare which I have to admit is rather scary so I edged towards Lee who was starting to sound like a hyena. Fred's face immediately lightened again and said, "Shall we get back to the common room then?"

Lee took a few deep breaths and nodded, "yeah, can't wait to tell the guys you got slapped again!" He stifled another laugh and Fred glared at him.

Soon we got back to the common room; the entire journey was literally filled with Lee's laughter and Fred just moaning about how the slap hurt - wimp.

Fred said the password and marched in and over to George, Angelina and Alicia and said something to George - probably that I didn't hate him. George responded by scratching his neck and saying something back that I didn't manage to catch.

Lee and I joined them. Lee chose to sit in between Alicia and Angelina on the sofa despite their pleas not to, I chose to sit on the floor next to Fred rather than disturb anyone.

"Nice to see you again, Faye," Angelina greeted warmly after Lee had gotten settled between them despite the complaints for Angelina and Alicia.

"You too!" I smiled, I did like them.

"Now everyone's here, who's up for pretending to be Jedi's!" Fred suggested giving me a pointed look.

"... Do you want the lightsaber?" I asked already knowing the answer.

"Obviously!" Fred said as if I was stupid. "Fine, fine," I stood up and went to my dormitory. However it wasn't by my bed. I realised Seamus must've never given it back and I sighed. "Just my luck." I muttered (after making sure there was no-one in the room to give me a strange look).

I walked back down and the group stared at me and I shrugged, "I think Seamus still has it - you still want it?" Fred nodded and I mentally cursed.

It wasn't like I was avoiding them; it's just that every time I went near them now, Seamus would immediately ask why I wouldn't hang out with them and every time I would respond that Ron was a downer. It had been around 2 weeks or so since I had properly hung out with them though...

I slowly dragged my feet up the stairs and knocked on his room to which Neville opened looking surprised. "Faye! Come in!" He let me in and I smiled, "hey Neville!"

I saw Seamus lying on his bed with Dean on the next bed sitting down. Seamus was throwing a tennis ball up at his bed roof continuously. I wondered briefly where he got the tennis ball from.

"Hey guys," I greeted and Dean said "hey Faye! Long time no see," He grinned fully knowing my reasons and unlike Seamus, didn't hold it against me. I noticed Ron wasn't in the room.

"Hey Seamus," I said since he hadn't responded and he mumbled 'hi', throwing a tennis ball up at the ceiling.

"So err," I ran a hand through my hair for the second time that day, "do you still have my lightsaber?"

"Might do," Seamus responded still throwing the tennis ball up.

"... Can I have it back? Please?" I asked.

"What so you can play with George and Fred?" He asked sitting up and staring at me.

"Yeah, they want to be Jedi's, I'm not going to stop them," I shrugged choosing to ignore his retort.

"Well, that's stupid." Seamus lay back down again and went back to throwing the tennis ball up.

I sighed quietly, Dean gave me a look that said 'sorry' and I shrugged, if Seamus wanted to be moody that was his problem.

"Can I have the lightsaber back, please?" I asked again and Seamus sighed, "as soon as I do, you'll leave and when will we talk to you again?" Seamus asked.

"Don't be like that, Seamus," I said, not wanting to get into an argument with him.

"Why can't I? You don't hang out with us anymore simply because you think Ron is a 'downer'" He said.

"Well to be honest, I don't want to listen to him talk about his hatred for Harry all day long, sorry for wanting to be happy instead." I folded my arms, if he wanted this argument, fine.

"It's a stupid reason!" Seamus exclaimed throwing the tennis ball across the room in the progress.

"It's a perfectly valid reason, Seamus." I said calmly.

"You start hanging out with those three and you suddenly think you're better than us? Is that it?"  
Seamus asked standing up and walking over to me.

"I didn't say that." Did he not realise that I had been avoiding them too?

"We aren't 'upbeat' enough for you? Is that it? Need people to fawn over you all the time is that it?" Seamus was turning bitter and I didn't like it.

"I'm not-"

"YOU NEED TO STOP ACTING ALL HIGH AND MIGHTY AND GET DOWN FROM THAT THRONE OF YOURS." He started to shout at me and I just took it probably deserving it. I was a terrible friend.

"Seamus-" Dean tried to say as he stood up.

"YOU KNOW WHAT, FINE, GO HANG OUT WITH THEM INSTEAD; SURE THEY'LL JUST USE YOU BUT SURE, GO AHEAD. MAYBE THEN YOU'LL STOP BEING SO TWO FACED."

"..." I didn't bother trying to stop him, I really did deserve it.

"IT'S NOT LIKE WE ACTUALLY CARED ABOUT YOU. DON'T ANYMORE BECAUSE OH THAT'S RIGHT, YOU WON'T HANG OUT WITH US BECAUSE OF RON BEING A 'DOWNER'"

"..."

Seamus finally stopped yelling for a minute. Maybe it was because I suddenly started crying or maybe it was because Dean had practically restrained him and cast _silencio_ on him. I looked over at Dean who gave me an expression of pure apologeticness and despite Seamus being an idiot, I was glad Dean wasn't being one too.

"Don't listen to him-" Dean started to say but I just ignored him and walked out of the room. Before he saw me cry.

"Brought the lig- you ok?" Fred asked once I had walked down the stairs. I walked up to my own dormitory ignoring him and the concerned voices of Angelina and Alicia and lay down on my bed, closed the curtains, silenced the area around my bed and cried.

All I could hear was Seamus telling me about how I was 'two-faced' over and over again. His speech had been ingrained in my brain not ready to leave no matter how much I tried.

The world seemed to be crashing onto me in a way I never felt possible, I could hardly breathe. The bed looked like it was growing smaller so I curled up in a ball and tried to block everything out.

Bad mistake.

I now _saw_ Seamus glaring at me in front of me with Dean, Neville and Ron behind him laughing and pointing at me. I looked behind me and Fred, George and Lee were also pointing at laughing. Every time I turned around, more and more people joined in shouting names and asking if it was a full moon tonight or who was going to be my new best friends for the week. The laughter was growing louder and louder until my ears were pounding. I couldn't escape, I tried to run away but wherever I went, the laughter followed.

I couldn't help it, I screamed at them to stop but it didn't do anything. It was like the words were becoming an ocean around me but it wasn't affecting anyone else and suddenly they were all shaking me saying, "Faye! Faye! Wake up!" _Wake up?!_

They continued to shake me and I blinked hard enough for them to disappear and was replaced by Hermione's worried face. "Oh thank goodness, I heard what happened, are you ok?" She asked and I shook my head feeling the tears begin to flow from my eyes - not that they hadn't stopped.

I was engulfed in a hug and I hugged her back wanting something to be solid after that nightmare. "It's ok," She reassured me and I just let all my weight fall onto her not being able to hold it up anymore.

"I brought you a hot chocolate?" She said letting go and picking up a hot chocolate off the side table. I took the hot chocolate and moved over so she could sit down.

"Seamus was begging to apologise to you when I returned to the common room," Hermione and I scoffed. "Yeah because you can apologise for calling someone two faced?" I said rhetorically.

"It's strange really; it's probably the second time that Harry and Ron have actually talked to each other. They're all down there you know, George, Seamus, Angelina, Harry, everyone! They're worried about you, Faye," Hermione sighed sympathetically seeing my disbelieving face.

"If it helps, Seamus has blue hair and... He stinks," Hermione's nose crinkled and I cracked a smile. "That does help a little..."

"Do you want to sleep? It is past 10 after all..." Hermione trailed off as she looked at a clock.

"Past 10?!" My voiced heightened and she nodded. "Oh." I said, "Well, yeah, I think I will, if anyone asks tomorrow, I'm ill." I said with pleading eyes and she understood.

"I'll just go tell everyone downstairs that you've developed a bug, ok?" She asked and I nodded. As soon as she left, I changed into my pyjamas, closed the curtains and curled up in my duvet. I heard Hermione walk back in and whisper "what an unfortunate day you've had..." As she walked past my bed and I blinked back the tears that were threatening to break again. I wondered if the entire common room had heard Seamus shout at me then watch me run to my dormitory crying. The thought made me want the duvet to swallow me up whole. The idea didn't seem so bad right now. Was I over exaggerating? Probably. Most likely.

I wondered if professor Dumbledore would let me go home for a few hours to my dad... Dumbledore was a reasonable man, right?

I was left with my own thoughts till the early hours of morning when I couldn't take it anymore and threw on a cloak and walked out of the dormitory and out the common room. It wasn't like I was going to lessons tomorrow, was I?

I took the really obvious routes secretly hoping a teacher would tell me to go back. I just wanted to be told what to do because I was at a loss at what to do myself. I soon found myself in a corridor I had never really been in before and recognised it as one of the fifth floor corridors. As I walked down it I saw someone looking out the windows and I paused momentarily. I recognised the figure to be Professor Dumbledore and wondered if I could ask him if I could go and see my dad now. He looked over and smiled at me, beckoning me over. I did so, cautiously.

"I find this is the best time of day to see the world, don't you?" He said conversationally and I looked out the window and understood what he meant. "It does look nice..." I commented as I looked up at what I could see of the sky were the stars were really bright.

"You weren't at dinner tonight; I trust you are feeling better now?" He asked and I wondered if he knew about the argument or if he simply thought I was ill.

"Yeah," I shrugged, "I guess,"

"Maybe you should take the day off tomorrow to get your head straight, sort out some things, is that the time? I really must organise those files on my desk for professor McGonagall or she may well kick me out!" He chuckled to himself and walked away bidding me good night.

... Why must every encounter with him always end up with me in a more confusing position than before? He didn't exactly help and I didn't ask about seeing my dad! Damn.

I walked off in the opposite direction still hoping someone would tell me to go back to bed unlike Dumbledore had done. Once again, I found myself in front of the roaring dragon portrait. I watched him roar at me for a while before he gave up and sulked in the corner. Now I felt bad. I read the plaque underneath in the little light I had and it read:

_Mortimer the dragon. Never slain, never frightened, always right._

I wondered what the always right bit meant for a little bit. Did the dragon always have a hunch on who to kill? A dragon prophet? In the picture where 'Mortimer' was currently sulking, I saw a stray sword, a couple of plants, but mostly it was a cave. There wasn't any gold like stereotypical dragon paintings I had seen around, which I was glad; dragons didn't like gold. Rich people just said that to cover up they're nasty gambling habits in the local pub.

The dragon lifted his head as if hoping I wasn't still there but realised I was and tilted his head a little.

"Hello, Mortimer," I greeted quietly.

The dragon huffed some smoke and went back to sulking.

"You know, you're the first dragon I've met, and who happens to be around when I'm lost," I said conversationally, still whispering in fear that now would be the time I would be caught. "You have a cool name."

The dragon turned around to face me but made no move to interact.

"One of my friend's brother's works with dragons - it sounds like a great job," I wasn't sure what else to say really...

Mortimer huffed again but it seemed a nicer huff than the previous one.

"Uh, why does it say you're always right?" Might as well try.

Mortimer stood up and walked up to the front of the portrait and looked down at the plaque. I backed away slightly unsure what he would do. He looked back up at me and moved his head to look to his right then back at me. I frowned, confused at what he meant. Mortimer repeated the movement then huffed smoke in the same direction. The smoke formed an arrow in the air and my eyes widened. "How is going this way going to do anything?" I asked.

The dragon huffed in a form of sigh and turned around and pawed at the ground blocked from view for a few seconds then moved aside.

_"What you seek, lies not far ahead, what you seek, lies where the sun will never shine, what you seek, smells like chocolate, one could say a tickle is in order to get your desire."_

"..." I stared at it unsure what it meant and wishing a Ravenclaw was nearby whose brain wasn't as mushy as mine due to previous events. "So I need to go this way and find something that smells of chocolate?" I asked and the dragon nodded. "Well, I shall try to find this desire and get back to you later! Thank you for the help," I thanked and the dragon nodded and curled up to sleep, his tail swiping away the message he had just written.

"Chocolate and tickling," I repeated to myself trying not to forget what Mortimer had written as I walked in the way he said. I passed the kitchens and heard my tummy rumble far too loudly. Well it couldn't hurt to get some food for the journey...

I tickled the pear and entered my nose filling with a strong aroma of chocolate. My eyes widened. A tickle, chocolate... Of course! I smiled and tiptoed over to the preparation areas and looked around for something to eat that didn't require much cooking thanks to my terrible cooking skills. My dad knew to make sure I stayed well away from the kitchen when there was food to be cooked no matter how bad his condition was.

I eventually found some cereal; I poured myself some and found a seat at one of the tables that was probably the Ravenclaw one upstairs, how ironic.

Why did it smell so strongly of chocolate?!

There was suddenly a clatter of something that was probably a piece of cutlery and I immediately stood up and went to grab my wand which... Wasn't there... Damn. I quickly found myself a frying pan by one of the ovens and went to investigate.

"Hello?" I asked as I walked hoping it was someone that wasn't evil and breaking into Hogwarts to eat chocolate. There was no answer so maybe it was and they were waiting to ambush me. Mortimer the dragon led to my death. Never trust dragons then...

"Are you an evil person who likes chocolate?" I asked knowing I was going to die anyway. I heard a chuckle that sounded familiar. I paused and smelled the air, the chocolate was getting stronger. I stood on a fork which was probably the source of the clattering sound earlier so I picked it up and added it to my arsenal. A frying pan and a fork, watch out evil chocolate eating man! I continued walked towards the smell and came across a tray full of millionaire shortbread.

"I was going to give it to you tomorrow as an apology," a voice said behind me and I lifted the frying pan and hit them before I could stop myself in fright. They fell to the ground and I saw it was Seamus. Oops.

**A/N ok you're probably wondering how all of this stuff even happened (i.e. all the exaggerated drama that probably shouldn't have happened) and so am I... I shouldn't really be writing like this – It's weird, BUT, the next chapter may actually get somewhere, who knows :) Leave a lovely review and you get a free virtual cookie and hug! :D**

**I er... also started writing another story... I'd love you to read it... it's called 'have a great summer!' PLEASE READ IT I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS THINK ITS HARRY POTTER WORLD SO YEAH. Ok that's the last you'll hear of it and if you do go look at it and tell me you looked at it after seeing this rubbish self promotion I'll give you a whole tub of Ben and Jerry's ice cream so yeah, check it out :3 **

**HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE! :D**


	16. Forgiveness, Hogsmeade and Remus

"... Seamus?" I asked poking him slightly from his clearly passed out position on the floor with the frying pan. I got no response because of this.

"Oh for the love of Merlin's baggy y-fronts, I can't believe I just did that..." I said as I put the frying pan well away from my reach not wanting to cause anymore harm.

"I deserved it though," Seamus suddenly said and I turned around in surprise, I thought he was passed out! Becoming a healer clearly isn't a future option for me. "Does your head hurt? I'm so sorry," I said sitting next to him and inspecting his head. Seamus rolled his eyes, "look," he cast lumos and pointed his wand at his head, "there's nothing there! Well... I don't think there is... Is there?" He asked now unsure of himself and I shook my head and stood up, memories of just under 12 hours earlier of what he said to me hitting me again. "You're ok that's all that matters, now if you'll excuse me..." I trailed off turning around and walking away. I heard a shuffle and I was suddenly grabbed back and turned around to face a worried Seamus.

"Look, I'm sorry, ok? I don't know why I said that, I shouldn't have said, it was stupid and ignorant and stupid, did I say stupid, oh Merlin, I'm super super sorry and I made you millionaire shortbread in apology!" He let go and grabbed one of the many trays to show me while I remained unconvinced. "This apology was going to sound better tomorrow, after I'd actually practised it," he put down the tray and walked back over. "There's not much I can say to make you forgive me but as you can see, I've paid a bit of the price for my ignorantness," he pointed to his brightly coloured hair and I cracked a smile. "Of course, I can't promise you I won't do anything stupid like that again, I just... I missed you ok?" He began to pace as I watched on, my curiosity getting to better of me as to what he had to say.

"With Ron around, everything _has_ been a downer, constantly on about Harry! So much me and Dean are thinking of just ditching him one day and replacing us with two sticks just to see if he'd notice!" He sighed, "Even Neville's stopped hanging out with us. I guess I was just jealous you know? You hanging around with the guys I hate the most simply because I had to be a good friend to Ron not realising I was being a rubbish friend to someone I care about more..." He rubbed the back of his neck as he stopped pacing and looked at me hugging his arms to himself.

"Look," I said already relenting, "I haven't forgiven you _yet_ but it's a good start, I'm sorry too... Y'know, for hitting you on the head," I shrugged and he smiled so happily and engulfed me in a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, I'm so so so _so_ sorry, you have to believe me! I'll definitely be making it up to from now on, I'll even do my homework and let _you_ copy!" He said to me as we hugged and I laughed as I hugged him back thankful that he was genuinely sorry and didn't hate me. I was easily forgiving - Yes I know it's a weakness - I just hated the idea of never talking to Seamus again y'know? I realised we still hadn't stopped hugging but I didn't want to let go because that meant I'd be back in the real world...

He released me and he smiled at me with a confidence I hadn't often seen on him. "Want some millionaire shortbread then? I made it all myself! Not even the house elves helped me!" He beamed proudly as he took a tray and led the way back to the four tables.

"Why did you even make so much?!" I asked not being able to contain my curiosity as I looked back at the three other trays.

"... Well they didn't all work out," He grinned and motioned for me to sit down next to him, so I did.

"They didn't work..?" I asked unbelievingly.

"Ok, fine, I may have tampered with them to get my own back on Fred and George and Lee but I swear I'm not going to give them to them!" He protested as soon as saw my glare.

"I hope not," I said as I took a piece of millionaire shortbread. Let me tell you, it was good. Better than the elves' ones which is saying something.

"Where did you learn how to cook this?!" I asked confused as to how he made them so brilliantly. He can hardly make a potion without it exploding in his face.

He shrugged modestly, "I just asked Dean for a recipe, it's his work really, I just followed the instructions!" He grinned.

"You cheated!" I pushed his arm slightly and he managed to fall off the bench which just made me laugh even more. I was so happy now an anchor of sadness had been released off my shoulders. Or maybe tiredness was hitting me again from a _long_ day.

"How dare you!" He mockingly threatened as he got up and brushed himself off, I saw he was also wearing his pyjamas.

"Can't help that I'm so strong," I flexed my no-muscle arms and Seamus rolled his eyes, "don't make me laugh!"

"I have muscle! It's just invisible..." I argued, a rubbish excuse, as always.

"Of course, of course," He grinned.

"Arm wrestle?" I asked and he nodded, "you're on, Lupin!"

One minute later and the tray of millionaire shortbread had been pushed aside and I was on the opposite side of the table now engaged in an arm wrestle - which I was losing to pathetically.

"Rematch?" I asked after I had lost for probably the tenth time.

"How many rematches do you want?" He asked laughing and I shrugged, "till I win, I guess, problem?"

"None at all," He smiled and I'm pretty sure he let me win the next round but I didn't say anything and neither did he.

We sat eating the millionaire shortbread for a while making smart remarks to each other and then sat in companionable silence. He never mentioned my 'bug' that Hermione had told everyone about or how I probably looked a mess.

I looked around the kitchens but I could feel Seamus staring at me but I didn't want to look back but eventually relented. "Can I help you?" I asked and he shook his head, "I just... It's nothing," He shook his head, and picked up the now empty trays and put them with the evil versions and walked back. Before I could ask what he was on about, he swiftly changed the subject and said, "Shall we return to our common room? It is half 4 after all..."

"Really? Time really does fly by in here..." I said thinking of the time George and I sat here simply talking till dinner.

"I guess you could say that," he grinned and I wondered if it had a double meaning but it was lost on me. "Come on," he held out a hand to help me up which I took and we made our way back to the common room not getting stopped at all. I guess the teachers had a night off today. We passed Mortimer and I wondered if I should tell Seamus about how the dragon had led me to the kitchens then decided against it, wanting to keep Mortimer, the all knowing dragon, to myself for just a little while longer.

"Night then, I guess..." I trailed off as we reached the staircases in the common room.

"Or rather, good morning?" He asked a grin still in place. He hadn't stopped smiling since I had forgiven him.

"Or that," I grinned back. I hadn't stopped smiling either, in fact my cheeks were starting to hurt, ow.

"Good morning then," I waved and walked up the staircase to my dormitory not looking back.

I wasn't tired anymore so what did I do? Read more of the marauders diary of course. However I couldn't concentrate on their antics too much because I kept thinking about what would happen later on today. Should I keep up my sick act and not go to lessons despite Seamus' apology? Would the entire Gryffindor house know about what happened? Nah, I'm not that important.

I put down the book and decided to get ready for the day to take my mind off things. I only had double charms, then transfiguration and care of magical creatures.

I grabbed some parchment and an ink bottle and pen and went over to the owlery. The walk could be just what I needed. I preferred it over there and at least I could check up on Margo to see how he was doing.

I was immediately greeted by Margo when I entered the owlery and he cuddled up on my neck. However he had grown bigger recently and wasn't the tiny owl he used to be so it probably wasn't as comfortable for him. "Silly owl, you're too big to do that now!" I laughed as he hopped back onto my arm and gave me a sad look. I hugged him and he softly cooed and I smiled, "you're the best owl I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, I hope you're up for a journey today," no sooner had I said it, he flew around me excitedly. "I haven't written the letter yet though!" I grinned sheepishly and Margo sat on my shoulder again.

"At least you're patient," I noted as I sat down against the wall and began to write my letter:

_Hey dad,___

_Seamus and I had a little argument yesterday but we made up. I also finally talked to Fred and Lee after Luna practically forced me to so hopefully everything is okay again. Have you heard anything from Padfoot recently? I haven't but I may ask Harry later on today about it. Hope you're doing well,___

_Faye_

The letter was brief but I preferred brief and to the point letters to long and rambly ones. I handed the letter over to Margo after I had sealed it and he nuzzled my neck once more before flying out the window out of sight.

I picked up my pen and ink bottle and (after making sure the ink was sealed properly) placed them in my cloak pocket. I looked out the window where the clouds were making the sky look gloomy thanks to the weather now turning wintry. I couldn't wait for the snow, snow makes everything beautiful.

I thought back to my first snow day with my Dad and was amazed that something so beautiful could be so cold. I was 5 at the time and my Dad simply laughed and showed me how to build snowmen and so I made a snow cat and he made it come alive momentarily. It was times like that that made me fall in love with magic.

I sat next to Neville for the lessons that day who was happy for me to finally be talking to them all again and I had to admit, so was I.

"Look, Faye! I made it fl- oops." Seamus tried to say but had managed to set fire to his paper bird.

"No-one is safe around you, are they?" I marvelled and he grinned as Professor Flitwick came over to stop the fire. We were meant to be revising the spells we had learnt so far in preparation for a charms spell test next week so naturally everyone was messing about. I had resorted to practising mental spells such as wingardium leviosa since that was the only thing I was proud of. I had begun to learn to cast the protego spell mentally but charms wasn't the lesson to learn it in so I was stuck learning it in the dormitory when everyone else was asleep. I tended to do a lot at night didn't I?

No-one bothered to remark on the argument between Seamus and me or that I was hanging out with them again. Ron was still hanging out with them but he didn't mention Harry anymore and I wondered if he had been in the bathroom and overheard the whole argument - oh well. Throughout the day it seemed like he had been making an effort to be funny and nice to me rather than his usual self I have seen recently. And if Seamus was right about Neville not hanging out with them anymore either, he was back too I guess.

"Lesson is over, everyone!" Professor Flitwick's voice piped up over everyone's voices and everyone sighed, it wasn't often we had these sort of lessons so it was a shame to have to go.

Mind you, that was the end of lessons today (for some of us anyway) so I headed to the common room with Seamus, Dean, Neville and Ron.

"It's the Hogsmeade trip tomorrow!" Ron mentioned.

"It is?!" I asked confused as to how I missed the notice.

"Yeah, a notice got put up this earlier this week, didn't you see it?" He asked and I shook my head.

"Well I'm glad there is, I'm running low on sweets!" Ron said

"Me too actually! There better be good deals!" I said.

"There never isn't a sale in that shop!" Seamus said and we all nodded in agreement, "that is true," Dean said.

"Hey," I said, "we should definitely check out the new range of pranks in the zonkos! Fred and George said there's this thin-"

"Do we have to?" Seamus whined and I nodded, "yep, well I'm going to check them out..." I trailed off.  
"I'll join you!" Ron said

I grinned, "good, you'll probably know which stuff is more reliable."

***

Around ten the next morning, our group was huddled by the giant doors (on the outside) waiting for Ron who was finishing off food or something.

"He can always catch up..." Seamus suggested.

"We could but we agreed to wait for _everyone_" Dean told him.

"What if we just started walking _reaalllyyy_ slowly?"

"Seamus..." Dean said in the voice he used whenever Seamus should stop talking.

"Fine..." Seamus relented and Neville and I shared a look of, 'why is it so cold? I don't want to listen to this' it was a look we shared often.

"Sorry I'm late!" Ron called from behind us and we turned around and I gasped.

"What happened to your eye?!"His eye was bruised and puffy.

"Bumped into a Slytherin who wanted a fight so I couldn't say no could I?" He said shrugging.

"Oh come here," I said and pulled out my wand and cast episkey on his eye and he blinked a bit once it had returned to normal. "Thanks, Faye!" He grinned sheepishly and I rolled my eyes, "I can't believe you got into a fight, did you even hit them?" I asked and he nodded,

"He's now walking to the hospital wing with elephant legs."

"..." Silence from everyone.

"Elephant legs." Dean repeated.

"What?" Ron asked and we all shook our heads laughing.

When we got there, we first headed into a packed honeydukes store but I didn't buy anything for myself. I brought some white mice for Sirius and some Bertie Botts every flavour beans for my dad. Aren't I nice?

Next stop was Zonkos but Seamus, Dean and Neville said they'd meet us in the three broomsticks.

"Why must they hate this shop?" I wondered aloud and Ron shrugged.

"RONNIEKINS!" A shout was heard from the back of the store and Ron turned beetroot red and attempted to turn around to avoid gazes from everyone in the shop. However they swooped in like birds of prey and dragged Ron back into the store despite his protests. "FRED, GEORGE, LET ME GO."

"Can't do that, little brother, you might run away!" Fred said patronisingly. At this point most of the store had stopped watching thankfully. Ron's skin began to slowly return back to his pale skin colour as we moved to the back of the store once again.

"So how's things?" George asked from beside me as we walked to the back. I shrugged, "better, I guess?"

To be honest, I was happy that Seamus had apologised but I still felt conflicted after what he said. Hearing what your closest friend thinks of you leaves a mark. That's what Sirius told me once after discussing just why Pettigrew had surrendered to the death eaters.

I was going to talk to my dad tonight, he had replied to my letter this morning not believing everything was ok. So now I had to go to Professor Dumbledore at 5 where he had told me to go. Who knows what would happen then.

"You can always talk to me about it if you want, you know," George told me and I nodded, "I know but I think this is something I need to sort out for myself." I didn't want to sound blunt but I just didn't want to sound like an overdramatic teenager to him.

"BLIMEY THIS IS ONLY 2 GALLEONS!" Fred exclaimed and I looked ahead to see Fred examining a box that had a picture of dung bombs on. Oh dear. A jumbo box set of dung bombs... "NO WAY!" George went over to examine it too and I saw Ron roll his eyes at them and I laughed.

Eventually Ron and I left to meet the others at the three broomsticks having brought nothing but I saw Luna on the way and told Ron I'd be there in a bit.

"Luna!" I half-shouted as I walked over. She looked over and smiled, "hello, Faye, you finally talked to the twins, I see!"

"Yeah, just a misunderstanding like you said, I also talked to Seamus and we had an argument but its ok now," I shrugged.

"Well that's good; I thought I was going to have to send the flettihuffs on you to get you to see straight!" Luna laughed and I smiled raising an eyebrow, I had NO idea what flettihuffs were.

"So how are you?" I asked now that my problems were over I could ask more on her life.

"Very good, my dad just published a new quibbler which has one of my own articles in! She said.

"Really? That's great news! Could you get your dad to send me one? I'd love to read it!" I smiled and Luna nodded, "I can give you one now if you want, my dad sent me a spare one to give to someone if I wanted which meant you so..." She dug around her bag and handed over a quibbler.

"Thank you! Should I give you the money or your dad?" I asked as I found my purse to give over my last remaining money. No butterbeer for me then, oh well.

Luna's eyes widened, "no, no, you don't need to pay! I'm giving it to you!"

"But I can't just accept it freely..." I trailed off.

"Freya, I will not accept money for this quibbler, do you understand?" She spoke in a more serious voice. I nodded relenting and Luna smiled airily once more. "Have fun reading it and tell me what you think! I must go, I think I saw a wrakspurt near the shrieking shack"

I smiled, "have fun!" I said to her retreating figure, "and thank you!" I added.

I made my way to the three broomsticks slowly enjoying the moment of solitude while I still had it. Unfortunately...

"Hey, Faye!" George greeted from next to me and I raised an eyebrow.

"Where's Fred? And why aren't you in zonkos still?" I asked confused as to why he was alone.

"Well Fred went to go flirt with Angie so I was stuck on my own until I saw your lonesome self walking ahead of me - now we're both not lonely!" George grinned as if he had just come up with the best explanation ever.

"Well I hate to be rude but I'm about to go to the three broomsticks where my friends are..." I trailed off not sure how to tell him that they didn't want him there - plus it'd be weird.

Thankfully George didn't look upset, "I know, you did say in Zonkos remember?"

"Oh..." Did I?

"I just figured I'd check on you before I go find Fred and Lee to interrupt their flirting methods," He laughed and I raised an eyebrow, "why not go flirt with someone yourself then?" I asked since one thing the Weasley twins were popular for was their never ending charm on the ladies.

"Ah..." George frowned slightly, "Well, I could but there's only one person I'm interested in at the moment," he grinned at me and I noticed the three broomsticks was a few feet away and I thanked Merlin. As much as I wanted to stick around and force George to go and flirt with that one person or something, I was starting to get cold - and thirsty "Well, have fun trying to find that one person, I have to go now, sorry, bye!" I waved and walked into the three broomsticks leaving a frustrated looking George behind. I would ask about his problems but last time I tried to be a good listener was with Seamus and his 'special someone' and my advice? Still hadn't followed it, I bet. Maybe I'd ask George about it later – he has more confidence anyway so he's bound to actually listen to my ideas.

The guys waved me over from a corner of the place so I didn't have to stand around awkwardly for too long while I tried to spot them.

"Hey guys!" I greeted as I sat next to Dean on the round table.

"We got you a butterbeer," Seamus pushed one over, "didn't know how long you'd be," he shrugged.

"Thank you! But I'll have to pay you back..." I trailed off as I rummaged in my pocket for my purse. Seamus groaned and everyone else laughed. "I'm paying for it! No exceptions!" Seamus said and I stopped looking for my money.

"Thank you," I grinned and took a sip of butterbeer, now that's just the thing I needed.

"You're welcome!" He grinned back looking the happiest all morning - maybe because I wasn't looking like I still had a grudge (I still did) or maybe it was the butterbeer. Yeah, it was probably the latter.

5pm soon came around and I was outside Dumbledore's office trying to remember the password - last time it was lemon sherbet but that was a year ago.

"Liquorice wands?" I said - nothing.

"... Bertie Botts every flavour beans?" Still nothing.

"Brilliant." I muttered and leant on the wall opposite waiting for someone to walk by that I could ask.

Thankfully I didn't have to wait long before the _actual entrance_ appeared to his office so I cautiously walked up them and knocked in the door.

"Come in!" Dumbledore's voice called so I walked in and saw my dad standing a few feet away.

"Dad!" I exclaimed, running over into his awaiting arms and hugging him.

"Hey, Freya! How've you been?" He asked as he pulled away to out his hands on my shoulders to look at me properly.

"Great, you?" I returned grinning and he shrugged, "I can't complain, the potion is going strong!"

"Oh good because I don't think Snape would be too happy with me 'borrowing' some stuff," I smirked and my dad rolled his eyes.

"Now tell me what happened between you and Seamus will you? I thought he was a good guy?" He asked sitting at the desk and beckoning for me to join. I noticed Dumbledore had disappeared.

"He is a good guy," I said, "I think it's my fault really," I shrugged, "I mean, I had kind of stopped hanging out with them for a while..." I trailed off.

"You did mention that vaguely in one of your letters," he mused and I sighed, "well it was mainly Ron being an idiot, I guess, besides it wasn't like I was hanging out with Fred, George and Lee like he thought I was," I said

"So who were you hanging out with?" My dad asked and I shrugged, "Luna at times otherwise I was in the astronomy tower," I shrugged.

"..." My dad looked like he was contemplating something, "what did Fred, George and Lee do?" He asked and it was my turn to think.

"Well..." I said after a brief pause, "I had a brief moment of paranoia that I was part of some high scale prank by them," I laughed at how silly it was now.

My dad laughed too, "If I had a galleon for every time I felt that around James and Sirius, well, we'd be rich!" He mussed my hair and I felt better knowing that.

"Seriously?" I asked and he nodded, "yep, mainly before they found out about the whole werewolf thing because they started acting suspicious around me," He laughed.

"So are you sure you're ok?" He asked looking serious and I nodded, "never been better," I smiled and we hugged.

"I have heard from Sirius by the way," He said letting go and I looked at him waiting for him to continue. "He hates not being able to see this tournament and support Harry somehow."

"I'm sure Harry will be fine," I grinned, "He's lasted this long hasn't he?"

My dad laughed, "That is true, he misses you too, you know" he told me and I smiled, "that's something, I guess," I had a feeling that Sirius would choose Harry over me any day – being his godfather and all. Not that I minded too much, Harry needed family more than me.

I had a feeling he was going to go again because he grabbed his hat off the desk and I sighed, "You're going again aren't you?" I asked and he nodded, "you have your dinner and I have mine ready to be put in microwave when I get back!"

"I hate to interrupt," Dumbledore said from a doorway, "but your dad is right, Freya, dinner is ten minutes from being placed on the table so if I was you, I'd go and find your friends before they take a seat without you!" He smiled and I sighed and looked back to my dad, "talk soon?" I asked

He nodded, "just a letter away, remember?"

We stood up and I hugged him again taking advantage of the extremely rare opportunity that everyone else here didn't have which was seeing their parents during term time. "I'll still miss you," I muttered into his shoulder.

My dad chuckled, "not as much as I do, don't you worry," He let go and grinned, "the first task is next week, you're going to enjoy that!"

"You know what it is?!" I asked

He nodded, "not saying though, it would ruin the surprise!"

I groaned and took one last look at him before waving to both him and Professor Dumbledore and walking out if the room and down the stairs again.

When I found Seamus, Dean, Neville and Ron on the way to the great hall they all smiled knowing where I had just been. "So how is he?" Seamus asked.

"Good, really good," I told them smiling. He didn't look as tired as he normally did either, maybe the potion helped with that... Or he just didn't have as much to worry about now that Sirius was actually framed and not out to kill Harry. "He also knows what the first task is but he wouldn't tell me."

"What! That's not fair!" Seamus whined.

"Tell me about it," I replied as Ron opened the doors to the great hall. Once we sat down, they began a conversation about the latest quidditch game so I zoned out and observed the people around the hall.

The Durmstrang students were fitting in really well, seemed to be having the time of their lives whereas the beauxbatons students still look bored. Well you can't please everybody.

My eyes were drawn back to Viktor Krum, the guy who everyone adores. I wonder if I could persuade him to give me a few autographs for presents...

How I was going to do that was another matter entirely but I had my ways when needed.

He suddenly glanced my way and I realized I had been blankly staring at him for longer than normal but he grinned. I looked away awkwardly nonetheless.

The guys had moved on to talking about the first task on Tuesday so I joined in.

"If anything it's going to involve a random creature," I told them interrupting their theories. Thinking to why my Dad knew I'd enjoy it.

"True but what?" Seamus asked and I shrugged, "It could be anything couldn't it?"

"Why can't the first task be right now? I want to know!" Dean moaned and we laughed.

"It's not that far away, mate, besides it will be worth the wait," Ron said to Dean.

"I just hope it's not too dangerous..." Neville said.

The days passed and soon we were in a newly decorated quidditch pitch. Instead of the hoops and grass it was now full of rocks and boulders. I tried to think of a creature that lived in these conditions but I couldn't think of it! A giant perhaps? No they wouldn't agree to be in something like this.

"Rumour has it that it's a dragon," Seamus told me seeing my thinking face and I sighed angrily wishing I had realized that, "of course! Put a cave in and it's the perfect environment for some really dangerous dragons..." I trailed off realizing the contestants were probably going to have to _fight_ the dragon. I didn't agree with that at all. I hope it's something else...

Suddenly a group of people walked into the arena carrying a large box.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the first task!" Dumbledore greeted the crowd and everyone cheered. "Inside that very box is a golden egg which each contestant must collect."

The group of people opened the box to show off the egg as they placed it at the highest point in the arena and walked away again.

"However," Dumbledore said and everyone grew a silent waiting for the big obstacle to be announced, "a dragon will be guarding that very egg!"

The group of people were back again, leading a _dragon_ that to where the egg was and quickly chaining it's legs to rocks nearby - I didn't like that idea but I guess we didn't want a rampaging dragon on the run. Everyone was gasping or cheering at the dragon as the group of people left once more.

"This, is the Swedish Short-Snout, our first dragon of the afternoon!" Dumbledore continued to explain.

"First?!" Seamus exclaimed along with many other people around the arena.

"Each contestant will have a different dragon chosen for them by chance. May the Triwizard tournament begin!"

**A/N Reckon Seamus gave a good enough apology? And who do you reckon George fancies? *wink* *wink* THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL HOPEFULLY BE A GOOD ONE! Sit tight my faithful readers :3 Maybe we might meet Charlie Weasley in the next chapter? I hope so! **

**Review and you're the best person ever and receive a free superhero cape in a colour of your choice :D**


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